John Schnatter

John H. Schnatter (born November 22, 1961), nicknamed commercially as Papa John, is an American entrepreneur who founded Papa John's Pizza in 1984. Schnatter stepped down as CEO on January 1, 2018, after comments he made in November 2017 criticizing National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell for allegedly not doing anything about national anthem protests by football players. He was succeeded as CEO by President and COO Steve Ritchie, but remained chairman of the board of directors until July 2018. He then resigned as chairman of the board on July 11, 2018, when a scandal broke out over his use of a racial slur when trying to minimize the controversy over his NFL national anthem comments by alleging that Colonel Harland Sanders had used the slur and it had not affected his popularity. As of March 2019, he remained the owner of 31 percent of the company's shares, but by May 23, he had sold 3.8 million shares and reduced his stake in the company to 19%. He remains the company's largest shareholder.