Denise Truscello/WireImage
A couple weeks ago, Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter went on a whiny rant attributing his company’s stock price hitting its lowest point in eight months to the NFL’s mismanagement of the NFL anthem protest saga and its accompanied decline in television ratings. Papa John’s has been the official pizza of the NFL since 2010.
“Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership,” Schnatter said about his shares being down 11%. “NFL leadership has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.”
The net worth of Schnatter plummeted $70 million in less than 24 hours after the company released its third-quarter financial report. The 55-year-old CEO, who owns about 25% of Papa John’s, is now worth a measly $801 million, Forbes reports.
This was evidently a cause for a temper tantrum that ended up being a public relations nightmare, especially considering other NFL advertisers including as Kohl’s and Buffalo Wild Wings had expressed confidence in the league and claimed the anthem controversy had not affected sales. Hell, even DiGiorno piled on Papa.
Well, nearly two weeks after Papa John blamed the NFL for his company’s shortcomings, Papa John’s released an apology of sorts that took a bizarre turn.
The statements made on our earnings call were describing the factors that impact our business and we sincerely apologize to anyone that thought they were divisive. That definitely was not our intention. (1/3)
— Papa Johns (@PapaJohns) November 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/PapaJohns/status/930588847825719296 https://twitter.com/PapaJohns/status/930588925835522049
See Papa John isn’t an entitled whiny baby, he hates Neo-Nazis just like us! We have common ground! Did we just become best friends, Papa? No, no we didn’t. Because there’s just something about your face. If you don’t change your face, I’m going to change it for you.
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[h/t Total Pro Sports]