After using n-word, the founder of Papa John sees his name removed from the gym of his hometown



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John Schnatter founded Papa John's and oversaw his expansion into thousands of franchises, but resigned from his position as CEO and Chairman of the Board. (Danny Moloshok / Reuters)

The city of Jeffersonville, Indiana, had good reason to add the name of John Schnatter last year to his 80 year old gym. After all, he founded Papa John's chain in his hometown – and, more recently, donated $ 800,000 to renovate the historic building.

However, the mayor of Jeffersonville saw on Wednesday the name Schnatter removed from the Nachand Fieldhouse. but he said that the pizza entrepreneur's representatives told him that he could "expect a dispute ahead" on the decision. Mayor Mike Moore said (through Louisville Courier-Journal) that it would be "unfortunate" but that he and other municipal officials have not "decided [about] that something was good or bad, based on a monetary gift.

For Moore, removing the name was the right thing to do after Schnatter admitted Wednesday that he had made offensive remarks, including the use of the word N.

Schnatter, 56, s & # 39; is apologized for his language and resigned from his post as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Papa John's, as well as the Board of Directors of the University of Louisville, the branch NAACP invited him to "resign … or be removed from office".

Comments were made during a conference call in May with a marketing agency and were revealed Wednesday by Forbes, who reported that he was engaged in a "role-play exercise" designed to help prevent damage to public relations. Schnatter resigned as CEO of Papa John's in January, after blaming his company's disappointing sales on how the NFL had treated the protests of some of its players during the national anthem

. During NFL games and the league's corporate partner, Schnatter linked his company's results to the NFL's TV ratings. Schnatter, a contributor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, himself a sharp critic of the protests, said they "should have been smothered in the bud a year and a half ago," accused the league of "bad leadership" on the issue and "The ratings come back because of the controversy, and so the controversy polarizes the customer, polarizing the country."

Papa John subsequently issued an apology for the remarks "to whoever thought that they were divisors." According to Forbes, after the former CEO, familiar to football fans and others of his leading role in Papa John's ad campaigns, was forced by the NFL's controversy to holed.

This attempt to return broke out in the faces of Schnatter and the agency, Laundry Service, which canceled his contract with Papa John's, which would have resulted in a loss of income and a reduction in his staff. Schnatter reportedly downplayed the impact of his comments on the NFL protests, referring to the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken claiming that "Colonel Sanders called the N N 's," but that he "n & rsquo; did not pay a large price

. To show his disgust at racism, Schnatter would also have told how, when he grew up in Indiana, blacks were dragged trucks until their death. However, "several people on the call" who heard Schnatter's comments "found them offensive," a source told Forbes.

In a statement Wednesday, Schnatter said: "Reports attributing the use of inappropriate and offensive language during a media training session regarding the race are true No matter the context, I'm sorry, just put, racism does not belong in our society. "

" Dad John's condemns racism and any insensitive language, little matter the situation or the framework, "said the company in its own statement. "Our company was built on a foundation of mutual respect and acceptance. … We are very proud of the diversity of Papa John's family, even though diversity and inclusion are an area where we will continue to improve. "

Attempts to control the damage have not prevented Major League Baseball from suspending its partnership with the company, a" Papa Slam "promotion in which the grand slam has triggered 40 percent reduction in Papa John's pizza prices the next day. Yahoo Sports, who announced the news, noted that individual MLB teams that had their own similar arrangements with the company were left to make their own decisions as to the pursuit of these promotions.

It remains to be seen whether the University of Louisville is moving to change the name of Papa John's Cardinals Stadium, his 65,000-seat football center. Schnatter personally owns these naming rights in an agreement with the school twenty years ago, according to reports, and it could potentially make it very difficult, or at least very expensive, for Louisville to distance itself from it.

In the hometown of Schnatter, Indiana, Moore said that the litigation threats aside, he hoped the donation of $ 800,000 would not be canceled because it helped so many "downtown youth" who would use the building not just as their school's gym, but as a "safe place" after school.

Affirming that Schnatter's "derogatory" remarks took him "by surprise", and noting (via the News and Tribune) that he did not recall any incidents to Jefferson of black people trailing behind them. trucks, the mayor said, "My hope is, even with the name down, he wants to help these children.I hope the money is not related to the name."

" This gym is not just an important historical part of the city of [Jefferson] it is about to become the gym of our new downtown elementary school. "I can not have kids coming in this elementary school to get an education to have this thing above their head. "19659021" "I do not want that name with those comments, you know, that go through the mind of a little kid who's walking

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