3:03 PM PT -- John wants to make one thing clear, telling us it didn't take him 20 months to stop using the n-word, but instead, he's spent that long trying to get the media to stop tying it to him.
John says during his OAN interview, what he meant to say was, "Get rid of this n-word in (the) vocabulary and dictionary (of the news media), and everything else because it’s just not true," – reflecting my commitment to correct the false and malicious reporting by the news media about the conference call."
John maintains that the audio of him using the n-word in the audio released in 2018 was taken out of context, and that he immediately followed it up with "I never used the word" ... though he says that aspect of the call was largely overlooked.
Ousted Papa John's founder, John Schnatter, is talking in doublespeak ... insisting he's not racist, but copping to having to purge the n-word from his repertoire to prove it.
The former CEO of the pizza chain -- who got the boot a few years back for allegedly uttering the n-word in a conference call -- made an appearance on the far-right news channel, OAN ... where he was rehashing his experience, which he paints as a de facto coup.
At one point, Schnatter says the Board wrongly portrayed him as a racist -- adding he's been up at night since then, wondering how they got away with it.
Papa John’s ex-CEO says he’s been working for the last 20 months “to get rid of this N-word in my vocabulary” (h/t @mount_bees) pic.twitter.com/8heITnJJxA
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 8, 2021
Then comes the contradictory line ... JS says for the past 20 months, he's had 3 goals -- 1) "to get rid of this n-word in my vocabulary and dictionary and everything else because it's just not true," 2) figuring how they did this and 3) to get on with his life.
That first goal is a doozy to unpack. On its face, it sounds like he's admitting the n-word is a regular thing that shows up in his convos all the time, and that he's needed 20 months to exorcise himself of it.
Something tells us that's not what he meant -- he might've been trying to say "get rid of this n-word scandal" -- but that's certainly not how it came out. BTW, Schnatter keeps putting his foot in his mouth with these TV interviews, intentionally or not.
Remember, in 2019 ... he did another TV spot where he admitted he'd eaten 40 pizzas in 30 days (to see how they're holding up without him) -- and it just came off as sad and pathetic.
Originally Published -- 12:27 PM PT