The wealthy creator of the Papa John’s pizza chain has come under fire for claiming that during the catastrophic Hurricane Ian, which killed over a hundred people, he “lost a house” in Florida.
Property tycoon John Schnatter, whose estimated net worth is $1 billion, acknowledged the loss he had endured when speaking to OAN from one of his estates in Utah.
Although the storm destroyed and flooded Schnatter’s $6 million property in Naples, Florida, he still felt sympathy for individuals who had “lost everything.”
The pizza and real estate billionaire has courted controversy previously, as shown by the fact that he was forced to resign as chairman of his own business in 2018 after using the n-word during a conversation.
Stella Inger Escobedo, the anchor, addressed Schnatter and said, “Of course, you’re now in Utah, but we’re seeing the photographs of your property in Naples.” Escobedo called the situation “heartbreaking.”
“It looks to be entirely submerged,” someone said.
The pizza magnate said that seeing pictures of the devastation left by the hurricane “gives you a little bit of perspective [as to] how awful this storm is.”
“You can’t even begin to comprehend how horrible this is,” I said, “but I’m not afraid about myself because I have the resources, the team, and institutional expertise.”
“I may have lost a house, but the people in Florida have lost everything,” I said.
Schnatter is said to possess more than 20 houses in addition to the $6 million apartment in Naples that Hurricane Ian tore up.
Social media users mocked him for admitting that he had lost “a” house, and they also attacked OAN, a renowned right-wing news network.
“Oh no, he lost a home,” So ultimately he will buy up the neighbors’ homes and construct another gaudy mansion,’ a cynical user said.
“I have 600 million and can buy adequate insurance, so I’m not concerned.” OAN is ludicrous,” said a different person.
Institutional expertise? To escape the effects of a hurricane? a third sceptical user wrote.
As of yesterday, 109 people have died as a result of the hurricane that hit Florida and South Carolina last week, but that number is certain to go up.
Schnatter has a history of stirring up trouble.
Following his use of the n-word on a conference call with the company’s board in 2018, he was compelled to resign as the chairman of Papa John’s, the business he established in 1984.
Later, he claimed there was a scheme by his coworkers at Papa John’s and an advertising firm to falsely portray him as a racist while simultaneously claiming he was attempting to “get rid of this N-word” from his lexicon.
It was also said that he has previously been quite critical of the NFL for not disciplining black players who protested by kneeling during the national anthem.
According to Forbes, in 2017, when he held 31% of Papa John’s shares, Schnatter had a net worth of $1 billion.
But since then, it’s been said that Schnatter has sold about half of his stock, and Celebritynetworth.com estimates that he is now worth $500 million.
In 1984, he founded the business, which swiftly spread to other sites.
There were 254 restaurants when he went public with the business in 1993, and as of 2020, there were 5,400 Papa John’s locations globally, including 3,134 in the US.
Schnatter has no qualms about openly associating his face with the Papa John’s brand; he can be seen on the pizza boxes of the eatery, grinning and sporting an apron.
Due to their choice to maintain business as usual in Russia during Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Papa John’s also endured additional negative press.