Papa John Accuses Former Colleagues Of Unsavory Behavior, Like Trying To Bone Rick Pitino

The New York Post has obtained a letter written by the former papa of Papa John’s pizza—“Papa” John Schnatter—alleging that a group of executives at the company have engaged in “frat club”–level behavior on the job and gotten away with it for years.

The tarnished papa apparently accused top Papa John’s lawyer Caroline Oyler trying “to fuck Rick Pitino,” writing, “Ms. Oyler has asked me to call her if I was out with Mr. Pitino so that she could ‘hook-up’ with him.” He also accused Papa John’s director Mark Shapiro of repeatedly talking about wanting to have sex with an unnamed Papa John’s board member and joking about traveling to board meetings early to do so.

Papa John alleged that a group of executives led by head of North American operations Edmond Heelan had the blessing of CEO to Steve Ritchie to behave like a bunch of “frat boys.” He accused Heelan of homophobic mockery towards a Papa John’s vendor, and also of rudely expressing his bafflement at why the company was making “such a big deal out of MLK Day just because we had formed a [Diversity & Inclusion] committee.”

Pretty much everyone named by Papa John said he was full of shit, and that he made everything up in a desperate attempt to claw back a slice of the Papa John’s pizza that was taken from him after he got racist on a conference call.

“John is making this up. While I understand he’s doing everything in his power to regain control of Papa John’s, that doesn’t excuse denigrating others,” Shapiro said. “The statement attributed to me is disgusting and totally false,” Oyler said. The Papa John’s board of directors said the Papa was “making reckless, salacious allegations in his attempt to regain control.” The Papa himself did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.