If Papa John’s founder John Schnatter is going down, he’s deciding to go down swinging.
Schnatter is embroiled in a controversy that began during the week after news emerged that he used the N-word during a conference call this year. He resigned as the pizza chain’s chairman of the board and his name was removed from Louisville’s football stadium.
Schnatter conducted an interview with Terry Meiners of NewsRadio 840 WHAS on Friday and discussed the chain’s previous sponsorship deal with the NFL. He threw some shade at the league and commissioner Roger Goodell.
“The NFL also said they got rid of us, but we got rid of them,” Schnatter said. “We were very glad to get out of the NFL relationship, because we still get to sponsor some players and we still get to sponsor some teams, and we still get to do business with the community. But we don’t want to do business with Roger Goodell, period. And I don’t want to do business with Roger Goodell. We’ve had enough success where we get to pick who we do business with. Roger Goodell runs the NFL, and we made a decision to get a divorce. And we did.”
Schnatter is right to an extent. Papa John’s did take the step to pull advertising from the NFL after criticizing the league’s leadership over the anthem protests. The split between the two sides led to a new chain stepping in instead. But the NFL was just as happy to be done with him after the controversy he created.
