'Papa' John Schnatter is finally leaving the Papa John's board

Papa John's pride and joy is finally up for adoption.

John Schnatter — also known as the Papa John of pizza fame — was progressively sliced from the company he founded after serving up a slew of insensitive comments. He somehow remained on the Papa John's board through it all, but that's about to change, a Tuesday securities filing shows.

In the filing, the Papa John's board said it and Schnatter agreed he would resign from the board if it finds an independent director before its annual shareholder meeting, per CBS News. If that doesn't happen, Schnatter's term on the board will still expire. Schnatter will also have to scrap two lawsuits against the company, the agreement says. Schnatter still has a 30 percent stake in Papa John's, but that doesn't appear to be changing, Reuters notes.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Schnatter's issues began when he blamed the NFL's national anthem controversy for his company's slowing sales, forcing him to step down as CEO in December 2017. He then used the N-word in a racial sensitivity training session, and had to step down as the Papa John's board chairman last July. Schnatter begged the company to take him back with a subsequent — and very uncomfortable — ad campaign, but that apparently couldn't save him from Tuesday's consequences.