Papa John’s founder John Schnatter took a swipe at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during a conference call in 2017. Now more than four years later, the ex-CEO of the pizza company says that a couple of team owners encouraged him to do it.
In a podcast interview last month, Schnatter said Dallas’ Jerry Jones and Washington’s Dan Snyder “hate” Goodell and wanted him fired over the commissioner’s handling of players kneeling during the national anthem.
“They called and said, ‘You need to take this guy out,’” Schnatter told podcaster Jason Whitlock. “‘You’re the number one sponsor of the league, as far as notoriety and acceptance and association. Everybody loves you, they love Peyton [Manning], ’We hate Goodell.’”
Schnatter told Whitlock he told the two owners it wasn’t his job to try and get Goodell fired. But Schnatter still made the remarks on the conference call, saying then that the league’s leadership has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.” He added that the pizza company was pulling its associated advertising with the NFL.
“I had a free shot from two owners to go after Goodell personally,” Schnatter said. “I didn’t go after him in a vicious, venomous way. I just said, ‘Hey, grow up, be a leader, and fix the problem so my small business owners stop taking it on the chin.’”
Any attempted ouster of Goodell didn’t work. The commissioner was given a new contract — reportedly worth $50 million per year — in December 2017, a month after Schnatter’s remarks on the call. According to Pro Football Talk, Jones paid $2 million in legal fees in an effort to block the extension, but the contract still went through.
Papa John Schnatter trashes NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, says Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder hate Goodell and want him fired. “Goodell is a coward and he is incompetent and he’s just lucky.” Fearless is must-see, must-hear today. pic.twitter.com/RQ4UERcwVa
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) April 19, 2022
Schnatter’s comments aren’t the first indication that owners like Jones and Snyder were upset over social justice protests from players.
According to an ESPN magazine article from 2017, Snyder was a “pro-stand owner” who said the protests were angering sponsors during a meeting with fellow owners. When Jones advocated for an anthem mandate, Snyder reportedly mumbled, “’See, Jones gets it — 96 percent of Americans are for guys standing,’” a claim that ESPN reported other owners dismissed “as a grand overstatement.”
Schnatter, meanwhile, resigned as the chairman of Papa John’s in 2018 after the company issued a statement attributed to him in which he apologizes for using the n-word on a conference call.
A recording of the conference call released later showed that Schnatter had used the n-word as part of a broader denunciation of racism, and in the next sentence, the recording captures him saying he’s “never used the word.”
Clarification: This article has been updated to provide additional context on Schnatter’s exit from Papa John’s.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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