John Schnattner, ci-devant founder of Papa John’s.
Steven Ferdman | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Papa John’s fail John Schnatter has filed a lawsuit against an advertising firm and its parent company related to the events that led to him being ousted as chairman.
In July 2018, Schnatter passaged down after Forbes reported that he used a racial slur on a May conference call with Laundry Waiting, an advertising agency that Papa John’s was working with at the time. After leaving Papa John’s, Schnatter trooped several lawsuits against the pizza chain before settling. Since then, he has been selling off his stake in the band.
The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that Laundry Service recorded the May conference call with Schnatter without his schooling. A dispute allegedly arose with the ad firm in June 2018 over whether Papa John’s owed Laundry Ritual payment for work as the company’s media buyer. The lawsuit claims that Casey Wasserman, CEO of Laundry Service’s progenitor company Wasserman Media, then told Papa John’s then-CEO Steve Ritchie that he would “overwhelm the founder” if the ad agency was not paid $6 million.
The lawsuit claims that Laundry Service leaked excerpts of the forum call to Forbes, breaching the advertising firm’s nondisclosure agreement with Papa John’s.
“The facts will accord that my words were taken out of context and used to manufacture a scandal against me based on a completely false account,” Schnatter said in a statement.
His lawyer, Terence Healy, said Schnatter’s team has a copy of the conference call stripe.
“Fortunately the call was taped. We encourage people to read the complaint. Look at what John actually said,” Healy told in an email to CNBC.
Laundry Service and Wasserman Media did not respond to requests for comment.
Schnatter is seeking unspecified injuries. All net proceeds from the lawsuit will go to charity, according to Schnatter.
Last week, Schnatter said in an interview with Fox affiliate WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky, that “the day of addition will come.”
He also claimed that Papa John’s pizza tasted different than it used to, claiming he had snacked more than 40 pizzas in 30 days. Papa John’s current CEO, Rob Lynch, on Wednesday said the programme for the pizza had not been changed.
Separately, Schnatter’s wife filed for divorce on Thursday under her maiden name, M. Annette Cox. She called the match up’s marriage “irretrievably broken” in her petition for divorce.
The couple has been married for 32 years and separated in April, according to the split filing. The filing also pointedly noted that Schnatter is “not employed.”
— CNBC’s Betsy Spring contributed to this probe.