John Schnatter is adding his resignation to his lists of regrets. The founder of Papa John’s stepped down as chairman last week after offering a public apology for using the ‘n’ word during media training. He now says he erred in agreeing to relinquish his role at the pizza chain, and has hired an attorney to clear “his good name.”
That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites a letter from Schnatter to Papa John’s board of directors.
The board asked for his resignation “without apparently doing any investigation. I agreed, though today I believe it was a mistake to do so,” Schnatter wrote in the letter dated Saturday, according to the newspaper. “I will not allow either my good name or the good name of the company I founded and love to be unfairly tainted.”
Schnatter wrote that he answered “no” when asked if he was a racist during media training in May. “I then said something on the order of, Colonel Sanders used the word ‘N’ (I actually used the word), that I would never use that word, and Papa John’s doesn’t use that word.”
Schnatter, who started the company in 1984, has sparked controversy before. He stepped down as CEO in December after criticizing National Football League players for kneeling during the national anthem, blaming the outcry surrounding their protests for slowing sales growth at Papa John’s, at the time an NFL sponsor and advertiser.
Still a member of the board, Schnatter, according to regulatory filings, as of March held 29 percent of Papa John’s shares, currently worth about $500 million.
Schnatter has hired Los Angeles trial attorney Patricia Glaser, who sent another letter to the board asking it create a special committee to review the facts. As the lawyer told the Journal: “He’s not going quietly.”
A spokesperson for Papa John’s did not return a request for comment.
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