If former Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter thought that he was leaving the NFL and their anthem drama behind him when he resigned his position last December, he thought wrong.
The former head of the company which serves as the official pizza of the NFL, could get deposed by Colin Kaepernick’s legal team as part of the former quarterback’s collusion case against the NFL.
Schnatter made headlines in late October, when he blasted the NFL for their handling of the anthem protests. In addition, Schnatter claimed that the loss in ratings caused by the protests, had hurt Papa John’s sales.
According to CBS’ Jason LaCanfora, ”Specifically, Kaepernick’s legal team aims to interview Schnatter about any role Cowboys owner Jerry Jones may have played in those comments; Jones repeatedly spoke out publicly against “protesting” players and owns over 100 hundred Papa John’s stores and is known to have a close relationship with Schnatter.”
LaCanfora continued, “Kaepernick’s legal team, which is already in the process of reviewing close to 100,000 documents in the evidence-gathering stage of the case, filed a grievance in midseason against the NFL. They believe one or more agents may have acted with owners and/or the league office to collude against Kaepernick, who never received a workout after being released by the 49ers last year.
“His team will probe at possible ties between Donald Trump and NFL owners as well through the upcoming deposition process; Trump is close with several owners and called kneeling players “son’s of b——” and imploring owners to “fire” them. Jones, in public remarks, revealed that he discussed the NFL’s game-day rules regarding the national anthem, and he is one of several central figures in the grievance. Kaepernick’s lawyers will interview several other owners and league officials as well.”