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Pizza chain feels the pinch -Papa John’s rocked by founder’s n-word scandal even as stocks plunge and pizza lovers flee their products

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Papa John’s rocked by founder’s n-word scandal <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Chairman John Schnatter and former CEO allegedly said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s” and never faced a backlash <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>In the ensuing backlash Papa John&&num;8217&semi;s stock plunged four percent Wednesday<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>The struggling pizza chain&comma; had scrapped its sponsorship deal with the NFL in February after tangling with the league over the kneeling controversy<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Three months later they were forced to cut menu prices to reverse a sales slide <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Pizza chain issued a statement&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Papa John’s condemns racism and any insensitive language&comma; &&num;8230&semi; Diversity is an essential ingredient in our pursuit of providing a better product and better service”<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>They company admitted &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;&&num;8230&semi; though diversity and inclusion is an area where we will continue to strive to do better<&sol;strong><strong>”<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"in-line-column wp-caption alignleft"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"entry-content entry-content-read-more">&NewLine;<h6><b><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-295998" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;07&sol;John-Schnatter-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"John Schnatter 1&period;jpg" width&equals;"618" height&equals;"410" &sol;><&sol;b><br &sol;>&NewLine;<b>Foot and Mouth Disease&colon; Papa John chairman <&sol;b><b>and former CEO <&sol;b><b>John Schnatter  &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s” and never faced a backlash<&sol;b><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>It only gets worse for Pizza giant Papa John’s&period; Stock of the restaurant chain was down more than 4 percent on Wednesday following a report that founder and chairman John Schnatter allegedly made racist comments during a May conference call in which he was receiving public relations training from an outside marketing firm&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The controversial restaurateur&comma; who had to step down as chief executive in January for his remarks on football players taking a knee during the national anthem&comma; allegedly said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s” and never faced a backlash&comma; according to Forbes&comma; which first reported the incident&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-295999" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;07&sol;Papa-Johns-Pizza&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Papa Johns Pizza&period;jpg" width&equals;"669" height&equals;"444" &sol;><strong>The restaurant chain&&num;8217&semi;s stock has taken a beating in recent times in the wake of the founder&&num;8217&semi;s racist antics<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>Schnatter also reflected on his youth growing up in Indiana&comma; where he allegedly said on the conference call that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;people used to drag African-Americans from trucks until they died&comma;” according to the Forbes report&comma; which claimed that Schnatter shared the story in a misguided effort to show his distaste for racism&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Representatives of the outside marketing firm&comma; Laundry Service&comma; declined to comment on the incident&period; But its owner&comma; Casey Wasserman&comma; terminated the company’s contract with Papa John’s&comma; according to reports&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The pizza chain issued a statement without confirming or denying the incident&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Papa John’s condemns racism and any insensitive language&comma; no matter the situation or setting&period; Diversity is an essential ingredient in our pursuit of providing a better product and better service to our customers and to the communities where we operate and live&period; We take great pride in the diversity of the Papa John’s family&comma; though diversity and inclusion is an area where we will continue to strive to do better&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;The struggling pizza chain&comma;  scrapped its sponsorship deal with the NFL in February after tangling with the league over the kneeling controversy&comma; also embarked on price cutting measures in May to reverse a recent sales slide&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;After seven years as the official pizza chain of the NFL&comma; Papa John’s was replaced three  by Pizza Hut&period;  Founder John Schnatter resigned as CEO in December after publicly blaming Papa John’s declining national sales on the league’s hesitancy surrounding players’ national anthem protests&period; Schnatter said at the time he was &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;disappointed” in the NFL’s leadership for not stifling the controversy&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Schnatter blaming the chain’s declining sales on the national anthem protests unleashed a firestorm of negative publicity&period;  In January he was replaced by current CEO Steve Ritchie<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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