Papa John’s founder launches legal action over ‘false’ racism allegations
John Schnatter, the disgraced Papa John’s pizza founder, has launched legal action against the chain in an attempt to seek redress for the ‘unexplained and heavy-handed way’ in which he was ousted as chairman.
Papa John’s founder launches legal action over ‘false’ racism allegations
Schnatter resigned earlier in July after uttering the N-word during a conference call with Laundry Service, its advertising agency but has now gone on the offensive, demanding access to documents relating to his departure and claiming that he has been made a scapegoat for the businesses wider failings.
In a statement lawyers acting on behalf of Schnatter said that they were forced to act in order to “… inspect company documents because of the unexplained and heavy-handed way in which the company has treated him since the publication of a story that falsely accused him of using a racial slur".
"Rather than address the real issues like the health of the business, the company is hiding documents that, we believe, will disclose the actual facts as to what is occurring here, including using Mr Schnatter as a scapegoat to cover up their own shortcomings and failures.”
Defending itself Papa John’s insisted that it has supplied Schnatter with all the documentation he was entitled to, dismissing the court drama as a ‘needless and wasteful lawsuit in an attempt to distract from his own words and actions.’
The slow-motion demise of pizza impresario John Schnatter was recently documented by The Drum, as the former brand ambassador suffers the ignominy of having his image airbrushed from all company branding.
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