Papa John’s Chairman Resigns After Racial Slur

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter just left his CEO position earlier this year, and now he has also resigned from his position as chairman of the company’s board.

Schnatter made headlines on Wednesday after it was revealed in a Forbes report that he said the N-word during a May conference call.

He apologized for the slur but the damage had been done. According to the Forbes report, Schnatter was on a call with marketing agency Laundry Service when he tried to downplay comments he made about the National Football League. He allegedly said “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s.” According to Schnatter, the call was role playing in order to prevent future public relations mishaps.

Papa John’s said in a statement that it will appoint a new chairman in the next weeks and Olivia Kirtley will be the lead independent director right now.

CEO of Papa John’s, Steve Ritchie, sent an internal memo to team members that was obtained by Bloomberg News. It read, “You may have read the media reports today tied to our company culture. We want to make it clear to all of you that racism has no place at Papa John’. The past six months we’ve had to take a hard look in the mirror and acknowledge that we’ve lost a bit of focus on the core values that this brand was built on and that delivered success for so many years. We’ve got to own up and take the hit for our missteps and refocus on the constant pursuit of better that is the DNA of our brand.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) and have not been compensated for this article.