Papa John’s founder John Schnatter spoke out for the first time on Friday after a new wave of controversy surrounding his use of the N-word during a recent company conference call, revealing his side of the story.
According to Schnatter, who has since apologized for using the racial epithet, his comments were taken out of context. Still, he told WHAS-AM he understands the gravity of the situation and why so many are hurt by what he said.
“Believe it or not, the agency was promoting that vocabulary,” Schnatter said. “I made it real clear. ‘Listen, we’re not going to go there. We’re not going to talk about this.’ They pushed me. And it upset me. I said, ‘Listen, other people have used that word. I don’t, and will not use that word and people at Papa John’s don’t use that.’”
“That was the comment. [The agency] actually wanted to get into that vocabulary,” Schnatter explained.
When asked by the radio host whether or not he was “duped” into using the N-word, Schnatter reiterated he felt pushed to use it after instructing the agency he did not want to dive into racial issues.
Schnatter also revealed the marketing agency was upset with Papa John’s because the pizza chain had recently severed ties with the company, which previously helped Papa John’s with media buys. The company then ran his comments to Forbes, Schnatter said.- READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Schnatter resigned as Papa John’s chairman Wednesday night after a media-generated “controversy” over his use of the n-word during a conference call in May, according to the New York Post.
The context of the call makes it crystal clear that Schnatter wasn’t using the word to directly disparage blacks — he was referring to the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken when he said, “Colonel Sanders called blacks n******.”
But liberals sensed their chance and the news media struck hard. An article about the call originally published in Forbes led to a flurry of follow up stories that eventually forced Schnatter to issue a statement Wednesday declaring:
And leftists on social media raced to dance on his corporate grave.
It’s interesting how the folks that take issue with black athletes kneeling usually have racist tendencies. As soon as he made his kneeling stance public my Papa John’s account went… pic.twitter.com/eHOywB825W
— ThatBoy_T (@TasoNkosi) July 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/barry_huck/status/1017346229527773184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1017346229527773184&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fct%2Fleftists-delighted-as-racism-frame-up-takes-down-pro-anthem-founder-of-papa-johns%2F
Another racist bites the dust. Next?
— sweetsallysue (@sweetsallysue) July 12, 2018
— Joe at Work (@JoeAtWork87) July 12, 2018
And that last one, showing anthem protest instigator Colin Kaepernick winking at the news, makes the real motivation behind the “controversy” clear. – READ MORE
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