Chairman And Founder Of Papa John's Pizza Resigns After Getting Caught Using Racial Slur

Another one bites the dust.

With the power of social media, and with fewer and fewer Americans being tolerant of racist or sexist slurs, more and more people are finding their lives in a shambles after making off-hand offensive comments.

It doesn't seem to matter anymore if you are a celebrity, a politician, a wealthy business person or an 'ordinary' person. One comment out of line can officially ruin your career.

The latest casualty in the war against offensive speech is John Schnatter, the founder and COB of Papa John's pizza. In a conference call, Schnatter was caught using a racial slur.

He used perhaps the most unforgivable racial slur in the English language. He used the N-word.

The conference call took place in May, and immediately after the call, the media-training company working with Papa John's terminated their relationship with the pizza company.

The use of the N-word was apparently uttered when Schnatter was engaged in a role-playing exercise to help teach sensitivity training, but the training company didn't expect such explicit language.

Schnatter has apologized profusely after the verbal faux-pas was made public. Within days, there was more than a 5 percent drop in business. The company scrambled to regroup, and Schnatter accepted responsibility for his hurtful comment.

"News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media-training session regarding race are true," Schnatter said in a statement released by the company. "Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society."

The COB announced he was resigning. On Wednesday, it was official. Papa John's also released a statement saying that the company 'condemns racism and any insensitive language, no matter the situation or setting'.

Overnight, sales were up 12 percent.

Schnatter still profits from his pizza empire. He may have resigned from the board of directors, but he still owns approximately 30 percent of the company.

"After speaking with John, I'm confident that his comments, while inappropriate, do not reflect his personal beliefs or values," noted Papa John's board member J. David Grissom.

Schnatter has been in hot water before for getting political. The former CEO had to give up his role after he slammed the National Football League for allowing players to kneel during the anthem. This comment also caused a drop in sales at the pizza franchise.

In this day and age, one has to be more careful than ever when speaking in public or making comments on line. Just ask Roseanne Barr; the comedian’s successful sit-com reboot was cancelled just hours after she made a racist slur against one of former President Barack Obama’s advisors.

You can also ask former Uber board member, David Bonderman, who was forced to resign after sexist comment claiming that when women were on a board there is likely to be more talking.

James Damore, a Google engineer, was fired after he shared a memo with his co-workers in which he expressed disagreement with the company's new hiring quotas. He argued that women were statistically not as likely to seek careers in high tech positions.

Even a zoo concession stand attendant was fired after he tweeted that he was sick of serving 'rude a-- white people'.

Source: CBS News, CNBC
Photos: YouTube, Ildar Sagdejev/Wikimedia, PauLRivera Photography/Flickr