Papa John's has issued a scorching condemnation of its founder. 
 
 A special committee of the company's board of directors accused founder John Schnatter of disobeying the board and undermining CEO Steve Ritchie, including by going off script during a conference call last fall when he blamed the NFL for poor pizza sales. 
 
 "The Board specifically directed John Schnatter not to talk about the NFL controversy related to the National Anthem on the 2017 third quarter earnings call," the committee wrote in an 806-word letter addressed to the Papa John's community on Wednesday. "In direct defiance of these instructions, John Schnatter made unscripted comments." 
 
 Last year, some NFL players knelt during the National Anthem in a controversial protest over the treatment of black Americans, particularly by police. 
 
 Schnatter's words spurred a backlash on social media, made the company the butt of jokes on late night shows and forced it to distance itself from neo-Nazi groups. Papa John's apologized, saying it hadn't meant to be divisive. Sales fell in the following quarter, and the company ended its NFL sponsorship in the wake of the controversy. 
 
 "Schnatter has demonstrated a continued pattern of ignoring decisions of the Board, both in his role as CEO and as non-executive Chairman of the Board," the committee wrote. 
 
 The directors said they would defend the company against Schnatter's actions and "continue to do what is right for Papa John's and our stakeholders." 
 
 Schnatter declined to comment for this story through a representative. 
 
 Wednesday's letter is the latest salvo in an increasingly heated exchange between Schnatter and Papa John's current leadership. Schnatter stepped down from his role as CEO soon after the NFL scandal. Ritchie took over in January. 
 
 The committee also said that Schnatter produced commercials in which he starred after "independent market research showed that a change in spokesperson and advertising strategy was warranted," and that he reportedly met with management and staff behind Ritchie's back. 
 
 Schnatter stepped down from his role as chairman in July, after he admitted to using the N-word on a conference call. 
 
 Since then, the company has tried to distance itself from Schnatter by stripping his image from its marketing materials. It has also taken the unusual step of approving a provision that would prevent him from gaining more control of the company. Schnatter is still the largest shareholder and owns almost a third of the company. 
 
 And he's not backing away. 
 
 Though Schnatter says he doesn't want to get his job back as CEO, he's called Ritchie a poor leader and accused him of creating a toxic environment for workers. He also thinks that Papa John's has allowed his comments about the NFL and on the conference call to be misrepresented in the press. 
 
 Earlier this week, Schnatter posted a letter to franchisees on his website. 
 
 "This June, I told the Board that Steve needed to go," he wrote. "At the time, the Board agreed — and asked me to become Executive Chairman." 
 
 In response, the company said that Schnatter was making "untrue and disparaging statements in a self-serving attempt to distract from the damaging impact his own words and actions have had on the Company and our stakeholders." 
 
 The company added that "at no time has the Board asked John Schnatter to become Executive Chairman." 
 
 Schnatter's lawyer fired back, saying that a board member had suggested bringing Schnatter on as executive chairman on a call with the rest of the board, and that there were no objections to the offer. 
 
 In Wednesday's letter, the company responded. "It's simply not true that the Board asked John Schnatter to become Executive Chairman," the committee reiterated, adding that "John Schnatter's assertion that the Board agreed with him that Steve Ritchie 'needed to go' is not true." 
 
 The company is trying to move forward by a mandating bias training for all employees, promising to increase diversity among staff and commissioning an investigation into its diversity and inclusion practices. ||||| Photo: Wolterk (iStock) 
 
 There are the great rivalries of our time: Yankees versus Red Sox. Mothra versus Godzilla. Taylor Swift versus Katy Perry. And then, there are the really crap, petty rivalries that put even Taylor and Katy to shame: Like the current grudge match between Papa John’s founder John Schnatter and current CEO Steve Ritchie that somehow keeps churning out daily doses of petulance and vitriol, even as we wail and rend our garments and wish to the high heavens that Schnatter had never even thought of creating a pizza box with his face on it in the first place. 
 
 
 
 Just this week on As The Papa John’s World Turns, you may recall that Papa John’s put out a statement thanking its many detractors for calling the chain out as racist. CEO Ritchie also released a long Twitter thread about overhauling the company’s overall corporate culture. Schnatter, naturally, took this lying down, enjoying a tropical drink with at least two fingers of rum and an umbrella in it at some fabulous resort on his now-permanent vacation. 
 
 Haha, of course he didn’t. Instead, he composed a letter to his franchisees on his “truther” website, savepapajohns.com, saying that Ritchie “is out of his depth as CEO.” Schnatter also says “claims he told the company’s board in June that Ritchie ‘needed to go’ and ‘they agreed with me’” and wanted him to return to the company, says USA Today. In an interview this week with CNN Money, Schnatter continued his rant, saying that he was being scapegoated for the company’s current dire financial straits: “You can’t blame everything on two comments,” referring to his statements regarding the NFL’s national anthem controversy and a racial slur he used during a marketing phone call, which resulted in Schnatter stepping down as chairman of the board. 
 
 Surprising no one, Papa John’s has already released a statement, calling “the accusations ‘untrue and disparaging,’ characterizing them as ‘a self-serving attempt to distract from the damaging impact his own words and actions have had on the company and our stakeholders,’” says CNN Money. 
 
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 As with Mothra and Godzilla, you have to ask yourself: How will this all end? In the courts? (Seems likely.) A division of assets? A daily joint smear campaign for all the world to see, as in current times? We’ve seen Hamilton, so we know this doesn’t usually end well, but what we wouldn’t give for a good old slap across the face with a white glove, resulting in pistols at dawn. Since we obviously can’t do that, maybe a good old arm-wrestling or thumb-wrestling match? Papa John’s trivia team? Pizza-eating contest? Anything, just so we can declare a winner and be done with it. Please, make it stop. ||||| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Papa John’s International Inc (PZZA.O) founder John Schnatter, who is trying to regain control of the pizza chain after resigning as chairman in July, accused Chief Executive Officer Steve Ritchie’s “inner circle” of sexual misconduct, an allegation the company denied on Tuesday. 
 
 FILE PHOTO: John Schnatter (R), founder of Papa John's Pizza, arrives at the 2011 American Music Awards in Los Angeles November 20, 2011. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo 
 
 In a letter to franchisees on Monday and published on Schnatter’s website savepapajohns.com, Schnatter said Papa John’s human resources department had evidence of harassment and intimidation but he did not provide evidence himself. 
 
 “Once again, John Schnatter is making untrue and disparaging statements in a self-serving attempt to distract from the damaging impact his own words and actions have had on the company and our stakeholders,” the company said in a statement. 
 
 Ritchie, who was previously Papa John’s president, took over as CEO in January after Schnatter had come under fire for criticizing the National Football League’s leadership over national anthem protests by players. Schnatter stepped down as chairman following reports that he had used a racial slur on a media training call. 
 
 “The company’s HR department has detailed evidence of sexual misconduct, harassment and intimidation by virtually everyone in Steve’s inner circle, and relating to board members as well,” Schnatter’s letter said. 
 
 Schnatter, who owns 30 percent of the company, wrote that the board agreed with him that Ritchie “needed to go” as CEO because of the company’s financial decline. The board asked Schnatter to become executive chairman in June, the letter said. Schnatter had once supported Ritchie as CEO. 
 
 Papa John’s said in its response that the board “at no time” had asked Schnatter to become executive chairman. “In fact, the company has taken multiple steps to separate itself from him.” 
 
 Ritchie could not immediately be reached for comment. 
 
 Schnatter last month sued Papa John’s, saying it had not produced documents related to his departure from the company. Schnatter founded the company in 1984. 
 
 Papa John’s has hired investment banks to help find ways to stabilize the chain and assist it if there is an acquisition offer to consider in the future, Reuters reported earlier this month. At the end of last year, Papa John’s had 5,199 restaurants operating around the world, with about 2,700 run by franchisees.
– Getting Papa John out of the Papa John's kitchen has done nothing to quell the heat between the pizza chain and its former CEO. A special committee of the chain's board of directors penned a letter Wednesday accusing John Schnatter of "promoting his self-interest at the expense of all others in an attempt to regain control" of the company and making "untrue and disparaging statements," reports Reuters. The letter follows one posted by Schnatter at SavePapaJohns.com in which he said the board in June asked him to replace Steve Ritchie, who "is out of his depth as CEO." He added that Papa John's "has detailed evidence of sexual misconduct, harassment and intimidation by virtually everyone in Steve's inner circle, and relating to board members as well." Without addressing the latter claim in detail, the special committee denied it ever asked Schnatter to replace Ritchie, per CNN. "John Schnatter's assertion that the Board agreed with him that Steve Ritchie 'needed to go' is not true." The letter also claims that Schnatter repeatedly undermined Ritchie's leadership, disregarded the board's request that he steer clear of discussing the NFL anthem controversy, and continued to produce commercials starring him after "independent market research showed that a change in spokesperson and advertising strategy was warranted." The view at the Takeout: "This Papa John’s thing is never going to be over, is it?" (Schnatter's use of the n-word led to the latest trouble.)