Papa John's pizza founder John Schnatter said using Shaquille O'Neal to replace him as the national face of the brand was a racist thing for the company to do.
Schnatter left the company in 2018 months after stepping down as CEO when tapes of private conversations with a public relations company surfaced. The audio clip included him saying the N-word but not in a disparaging manner.
The 62-year-old was heard saying that Kentucky Fried Chicken icon Colonel Sanders "called blacks n******," before saying that he never faced public backlash over his alleged position. Schnatter later released the full transcript, which read as follows:
"Up in New York we made a decision. We're going to go out and get killed again, then I don't have to worry about doing the ads. And I got to tell you, heaven forbid this company if they're not going to use me at all. After I've looked at this research, I mean, I'm just not seeing how you're not going to tell the Papa John story and let them — what bothers me is Colonel Sanders called Blacks n******. I'm like, I've never used that word. And they get away with it. Yet we use the word debacle and we get framed in the same genre. It's crazy. The whole thing's crazy."
The former CEO issued an apology but alluded that the quote was out of context.
"News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true," he said. "Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society," Schnatter added, according to Forbes.
During an interview on "Fearless" with host Jason Whitlock, the entrepreneur remarked that the company's decision to replace him with O'Neal, the retired NBA champion seen in countless branding campaigns, was a racist move.
"Of all the things, that was the most racist. They used a black guy to cover up what they did to a white guy. That's racist. They did it right in front of America. He was just a shield to cover up their infidelity and what they did to me," he explained.
"No good news is going to come out of that company for the next 12 months."
"Of all the things that was the most racist. They used a black guy to cover up what they did to a white guy. That's racist... He was just a shield to cover up what they did to me." Papa John Schnatter on Shaquille O'Neal replacing him as the face of Papa Jon Pizza.— (@)
Schnatter went on to say that audiences shouldn't feel sorry for him.
"I'm a hard guy to feel sorry for, so you got to just get over that, and I got to get over that real quick," he remarked.
"When this started out and I heard about this, I thought this is crazy. This is kind of funny. You're going to paint me as a racist. There's no way, there's no history of it, there's no examples of it, no way."
Representatives for O'Neal did not respond to request for comment.
Host Whitlock suggested that the Papa John's team should bite the bullet and reach out to Schnatter and repair the image of the franchise.
Schnatter said in a different portion of the interview that the company's stock value had dropped an estimated 30% in 2024. Shares in Papa John's have dropped about $20 from February to May 2024.
He explained that it would be wise for the company to "have the founder back," knowing that he is pro-Papa John's, pro-people, and pro-humanity. Schnatter admitted, however, that he did have a "bit of a bad taste" in his mouth from the whole ordeal but doesn't hold any animosity.
"It was a pretty dirty thing to do, [but] I think that would be really good for the brand and the franchisees."
"I'm not going to hold my breath," he continued. The Indiana native explained that he wasn't sure if the company had enough integrity to call on him despite the fact that "no good news is going to come out of that company for the next 12 months."
Schnatter added that it would be no easy task to get Papa John's back on track quickly, with its 6,000 stories in 50 countries and 100,000 employees.
"It's fixable, but you really got to know what you're doing, and you got to make quick decisions."
The former chairman also noted that the margins on food service would need to go "down to zero," which wouldn't meet the company's "Wall Street number."
He likened anything less to simply "rearranging chairs on the Titanic."
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Middle-aged NFL legend Tom Brady recently hinted at the possibility that he might stage a Michael Jordan-style comeback. He just might have to in order to stay whole thanks to disgraced Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried's latest act of betrayal.
Bankman-Fried, the convicted fraudster whose mom figures is too autistic for prison, has apparently agreed to cooperate with the group of cryptocurrency users suing various FTX influencers, including Brady and his ex-wife.
Blaze News previously reported that Tom Brady and his former spouse, Gisele Bündchen, were named in a class-action lawsuit filed in Miami's Southern District of Florida federal court in November 2022, along with former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, Golden State Warriors basketballer Stephen Curry, Los Angeles Angels baseballer Shohei Ohtani, "Shark Tank's" Kevin O'Leary, and "Seinfeld" cocreator Larry David.
The class-action complaint launched months after the collapse of the crypto exchange company FTX alleges that Brady and the other brand ambassadors were responsible for "misrepresentations and omissions" in the advertisements in which they told acquaintances to unwittingly throw their money away into "the FTX Ponzi scheme."
Brady and Bündchen each took an equity stake in FTX as part of a 2021 ambassadorial partnership. While Brady became a brand ambassador, Bündchen took on the role of FTX's environmental and social initiatives advisor. The former couple appeared in a series of FTX commercials.
Curry similarly got into bed with the ill-fated company, signing on to a "long-term partnership" with FTX in September 2021 in exchange for a now-worthless equity stake. In one advertisement, Curry said, "With FTX, I have everything I need to buy, sell, and trade crypto safely."
Larry David was featured in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX where he played a number of characters rejecting historically consequential ideas, such as the light bulb. The advertisement ultimately showed David reject FTX, then suggested, "Don't be like Larry."
This FTX Super Bowl ad with Larry David ran FTX $1.13B\n\nthe irony of it\u2026 an arrest scene, Larry David saying he doesn\u2019t believe in Crypto, a ton of foreshadowing as @SBF_FTX is on trial\u2026 \n\nThe \u201cdon\u2019t be be like Larry David\u201d line after FTX lost billions of customer funds lol— (@)
While O'Neal managed to avoid being served in the lawsuit for several months, last April he became the last of the celebrities to be served a legal notice.
An April 19 court filing indicates the plaintiffs in the case have reached a settlement with Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month for his orchestration of multiple fraudulent schemes and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture, reported Cointelegraph.
The fraudster will cooperate with the investors, and, in exchange, they will drop their civil liabilities against him.
The filing states, "[Bankman-Fried] has knowledge and other information that Class Representatives and Class Counsel believe will be valuable to Class Representatives' cases against other defendants in the FTX MDL [multidistrict litigation], particularly relating to the underlying actions and their connection to Miami, Florida, where FTX's U.S. headquarters were based, as well as each MDL Defendants' knowledge of and assistance with the actions and connections to other states in which jurisdictions over those Defendants is asserted."
Should the court approve the deal, Bankman-Fried would fork over non-privileged documents concerning his assets and his investment in the AI start-up Anthropic, proof of a negative net worth, and documents about the FTX brand ambassadors, reported the Daily Mail.
The Democratic mega-donor also apparently agreed to surrender any information he has about venture capital firms that invested in FTX as well as any accountants or lawyers who worked with the defunct crypto exchange.
CoinDesk reported that the fraudster's former friends and codefendants Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang, have — along with FTX lawyer Dan Friedberg — made similar settlement agreements with the class-action plaintiff's attorneys.
A number of middling talents who promoted FTX, including Jaspreet Singh, Tom Nash, Jeremy Lefebvre, and Graham Stephan, have apparently also settled, as has Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
While flipping on his former celebrity boosters, Bankman-Fried appears to be trying to dodge accountability for his crimes. Earlier this month, the former multibillionaire appealed his fraud convictions and prison sentence.
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NBA Hall of Fame member Charles Barkley took issue with how basketball players attempt to look stylish when they fall to the ground. The former MVP of the league insisted that players not try to break their fall and risk breaking their hand or wrist.
Barkley was referring specifically to New Orleans Pelicans player Zion Williamson, who injured his wrist after attempting to break his fall in a game against the Sacramento Kings.
"Do not catch yourself, man," Barkley said while reviewing the footage on "NBA on TNT."
"I hate when players do that, fall on your ass or something," he continued.
"You're not a stunt man," NBA legend and cohost Kenny Smith retorted.
"Actually we did practice that when I was playing for the [Phoenix] Suns," Barkley explained.
"You did not practice that!" Smith replied.
"Yes, we did!" Barkley insisted.
fjsgofdesog— (@)
Always one to find a reason to laugh at or make fun of his friend, cohost Shaquille O'Neal jumped in. "Show us," the four-time NBA champion demanded. "Show me right now, fall on your ass right now."
Barkley, a 61-year-old who was over 250 pounds when he was an NBA player, immediately decided he would take O'Neal up on his challenge.
"No! Seriously! When you're falling, when guys fall they try to —" Barkley said as he demonstrated how players attempt to push themselves with their hands.
"You just do that!" the 6'6" former forward said as he plummeted to the ground. "You don't do that! You don't try to catch yourself!"
"Do it again, Chuck," Shaq egged him on.
"I'm telling you, guys at home, don't be stupid," Barkley went on as he continued his lesson plan.
"Your body is too much, it's got too much force. You're going to break your finger or your wrist."
Shaq immediately asked his producers for a slow-motion instant replay of Barkley's fall "100 times."
"Slow motion ... fall on that ass, America!" O'Neal insisted as Barkley fell in slow motion.
"Get your arms up!" Barkley insisted. "You don't have to worry about your head, get your arms up, you won't hurt your hard-ass head, Shaq."
The crew agreed that would be a tough act to follow for Smith, who then pretend to fall on a set of steps before reviewing a highlight package.
Chuck's fall demonstration is HILARIOUS \ud83d\udc80\ud83e\udd23— (@)
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Former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal, 51, told People that he would like to go skydiving.
"I've mostly done everything that I've set out to do, but I would like to skydive," Shaq said, according to the outlet, noting that he has been scuba diving but "didn't like that" since it was "very, very, very, very deep."
"I didn't like scuba diving. Skydiving would probably be next on the list. A lot of times, I just sit and think like, 'I want to do this, I want to do that.' So I think the next big thing that I would love to do is skydive," he said, according to People.
The 7-foot-1 basketball legend said he has watched skydiving on social media, according to the outlet. "I always would follow these kids that skydive and jump out of planes, and I always wonder what I will feel if I can do that. So if I do anything out of this world, it would probably be that," he said, according to People
"My only fear is, can the parachute hold me?" he said, according to the outlet. "I went to one little class one time and the lady was like, 'How much do you weigh?' I was like, and at this time I was heavy, I was like, '400 lbs.' She was like, 'I think it goes up to 350. But my mom, she sews. She can sew two together.'"
"It'll be just my luck that mom didn't feel like sewing that day. And then I'll be all the way up there and then the thing just rips in half. So I want to make sure that everything's in order before I go up there," he quipped.
Shaq has had tremendous success in basketball and beyond, but he has previously described himself as a just a "regular person," who "made it," noting that having more money than others does not make him better than them.
Shaq has been known to generously spend his money to do random acts of kindness for strangers.
— (@)
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NBA star Shaquille O'Neal reportedly paid the tabs of all restaurant patrons at a Manhattan eatery on Sunday night.
The tab, according to reports, came to more than $25,000.
The good deed unfolded at the Jue Lan Club in New York City after the basketball legend arrived at the restaurant.
According to Bleacher Report, O'Neal "proceeded to purchase dinner for the eatery's entire staff along with covering all of his fellow diner's [sic] bills, which he told restaurant workers to only reveal to the customers after he left the establishment." The bill covered approximately 40 tables, according to reports.
A source told the New York Post that Shaq "left them the biggest tip they've ever received." The restaurant, which specializes in Asian fare, features an expansive menu with offerings ranging in price from $12 to $40 and upward.
Complex has reported that the basketball legend has a net worth of more than $400 million.
O'Neal has yet to speak out on the reports at the time of publication.
In 2017, O'Neal said that he enjoys gracious tipping and helping out those in the hardworking service industry.
"When I'm at restaurants, I am a big tipper," he told late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel during an interview about his propensity toward generosity. "I like to show people my appreciation. So when they come up to the table, I say, 'The quicker I get my order, the bigger your tip will be.' And then the food will come fast."
He added that he'll even sometimes ask servers to name their price — and pointed out that some aren't terribly shy about stating their needs.
"When we get ready to leave, I’ll ask them, 'What do you want?' And the most someone said was $4,000. And I said, 'OK. No problem,'" he recalled.
Shaquille O'Neal seems to have changed his mind on mandates, and wasted no time making his opinion known during an episode of "The Big Podcast with Shaq." The former NBA player said he encouraged people to "be safe and take care of your family" but that "you shouldn't be forced to take something that you do not want."
When co-host Nischelle Turner pushed back and suggested mandates were not really being forced, Shaq doubled down.
Audio below:
SHAQ @SHAQ pic.twitter.com/78UI0Ptaek— Gina Carano \ud83d\udd6f (@Gina Carano \ud83d\udd6f) 1643940613
Shaq was relentless, saying, "It is forced. Because if the man don't take it, the man gonna get fired."
Yes, that is what mandate means. One might argue "mandate" and "force" occupy similar spaces in the etymological circle, but vocabulary is hard for some people.
Shaq's recent statement runs counter to what he's said in the past about Kyrie Irving's refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. But if institutions are allowed to change and adapt, why not individuals?
@dbongino is LIVE on the radio!\n\nDan says it FINALLY feels like there is a real rebellion brewing in response to the left's authoritarianism. Enter @SHAQ...\n\nFind your local station to listen LIVE: https://bongino.com/station-finder\u00a0\n\nOr watch here: https://nation.foxnews.com/the-dan-bongino-show-on-fox-nation/\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/PTS6xPsuXx— Bongino Report (@Bongino Report) 1643995407
During an episode of "The Big Podcast with Shaq," former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal indicated that he does not believe people should be forced to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
O'Neal took issue with scenarios in which someone faces the threat of losing their job if they decline to get vaccinated.
While the basketball legend said that he urges people "to be safe" as well as to "take care" of their families, he added that he does not think people should "be forced" into taking that which they do not even want.
But Shaq has previously commented on NBA player Kyrie Irving's refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Since Irving is not vaccinated, he cannot play home games, and even after teammate Kevin Durant got injured, Irving indicated that he would not change his decision on vaccination.
"I don't see how the team could put up with that," O'Neal said. He added that if Irving were on his team, he'd "have to put hands on him."
Many Americans oppose mandates that require workers to get vaccinated regardless of their own personal medical preferences — the issue has remained a topic of significant cultural debate throughout the pandemic.
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