Papa John’s Founder Says Slur Scandal ‘Extortion’ Attempt

Papa John's founder said “it was a mistake” to step down as chairman.

He is also questioning how the company’s board investigated his use of a racial slur.

John Schnatter resigned last week after publicly apologizing for using the slur during media training with a marketing agency. Days later, in a letter to the directors reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, he accused the board of failing to do due diligence on the matter.

“The board asked me to step down as chairman without apparently doing any investigation. I agreed, though today I believe it was a mistake to do so,” Mr. Schnatter said in the letter, according to the Journal. “I will not allow either my good name or the good name of the company I founded and love to be unfairly tainted.”

Schnatter on Friday accused marketing agency Laundry Service of attempting to extort him for $6 million to keep his use of a racial slur during a May conference call from going public.

“They wanted $6 million to make it go away,” Schnatter told a Louisville, Ky., CBS affiliate about Laundry Service, the Los Angeles-based marketing firm since fired by Papa John’s.

“‘If I don’t get my f–king money, I’m going to bury the founder,’ said one of the executives,” Schnatter told WLKY. “I’m not for sale,” Schnatter continued. “We held firm and they ran to Forbes, which printed it.”

Laundry Service declined to comment on the explosive charge.

Schnatter claims that Laundry Service, which was hired to provide public relations training, leaked the details about the conference call to Forbes only after its alleged extortion attempt failed.

The marketing firm made its demand about two weeks after the conference call, Schnatter told WLKY.

Schnatter has maintained that Laundry Service “pushed” him to say the n-word during the call.

Following the incendiary TV interview on Friday, Papa John’s issued a statement on Sunday, explaining that Schnatter, “is no longer a spokesperson for the company or the brand. The company has specifically requested that Mr. Schnatter cease all media appearances, and not make any further statements to the media regarding the company, its business or employees.”

The company went a step further and also evicted Schnatter from his office at the Louisville headquarters, a special committee of the chain’s board of directors said.

Schnatter, no stranger to controversy, admitted he used the racial slur.