“You either die a Louisville Cardinal or you live long enough to become a Kentucky Wildcat.” – The Joker
It’s been a long, strange trip for John Schnatter, a.k.a. Papa John. Once a major Louisville Cardinals booster whose pizza company was the namesake of their football stadium, he was written out of the school’s story following an episode where he used the N-word during a conference call in which he was attempting to figure out how not to be associated with people who use the N-word.
From there, he resigned as chairman of the Papa John’s board and stepped down from the Louisville Board of Trustees. Papa John’s shares tanked and the company removed Schnatter’s likeness from all of their promotional material and logos to distance themselves from him. Louisville removed the name Papa John’s from their football stadium and severed ties from him completely. Papa John’s then started an ad campaign in response to all of the bad press he created. In response, Schnatter created his own truther website and uploaded hundreds of legal documents in order to “clear the air.” Then he accused his board of being sex creeps.
All of which is to say that Schnatter finds himself a man without a nation. At least, he did, until he discovered Louisville’s natural enemy, Big Blue Nation.
During Tuesday night’s basketball game between the Wildcats and LSU Tigers, the once and former king of Louisville boosterism was seen sitting behind the Wildcats bench decked out in Kentucky blue.
Papa John appears to have dropped Louisville almost as fast as they dropped him 😬 pic.twitter.com/3YJAd2tADl
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) February 13, 2019
Not only that but he seemed legitimately excited in the final moments as the Wildcats attempted to snatch victory from defeat (they didn’t).
To be fair, John can do as he pleases. And since the Louisville folks have made it clear they want nothing to do with him, it’s not like he can’t NOT root for a college basketball team, right?
Spotted all in blue behind the UK bench tonight, Papa John Schnatter pic.twitter.com/4lThU9NG0S
— Annie Moore (@AnyMoreSports) February 13, 2019
On the other hand, PJ brought all of his troubles on himself, so whatever spite-bomb he’s trying to create her just makes him look like the dick everyone already assumes he is.
Now Kentucky and Louisville can battle over which of them “owns” Rick Pitino and Papa John. Lucky them.
[Deadspin]
