Papa John’s Founder Speaks Out on Dropping N-Word During Meeting: ‘It Wasn’t a Slur’
The founder of Papa John’s resigned this week after reports surfaced he used the n-word during a May meeting.
In a statement, John Schnatter admitted that he used the word during a media training session and apologized for the “hurtful language.”
“News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true,” Schnatter said in the statement released by Papa John’s. “Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society.”
After his resignation, Schnatter also tried to explain more of the circumstances in which the word was said, taking to local news to stress that the words were spoken in the context of a training session and he “repeated something that somebody else said.”
“It wasn’t a slur. It was a session on strategy and media planning and training and I repeated something that somebody else said and said we’re not going to say that,” Schnatter explained to a Louisville station in video obtained by CNN and aired on Saturday. “We don’t use that kind of language and vocabulary. And sure it got taken out of context and sure it got twisted, but that doesn’t matter. I hurt people’s feelings. That’s what matters here. And for that I’m sorry.”
In a separate radio interview with WHAS in Louisville on Friday, Schnatter also said he was “just talking the way that the Colonel talked.”
In addition to resigning, Papa John’s is also pulling Schnatter’s image from their marketing. He still retains 30 percent of the pizza company’s shares.
Watch Schnatter’s remarks above, via CNN
[image via screengrab]
