Papa John’s billionaire founder slammed for saying he ‘lost a home’ during Hurricane Ian

The billionaire founder of Papa John’s pizza empire has been criticized for “losing a house” in Florida during Hurricane Ian, a monster storm that left more than 100 dead.

John Schnatter, a real estate mogul with an estimated net worth of $1 billion, admitted during an interview with OAN the loss he suffered when speaking from another of his Utah properties.

His $6 million condominium in Naples, Florida, was flooded and damaged during the hurricane, but Schnatter sympathized with those who had “lost everything.”

The pizza and real estate tycoon has previously sparked controversy after he was forced to resign as chairman of his own company for using the n-word on a phone call in 2018.

“Of course you’re in Utah right now, but we’re seeing images of your home in Naples,” host Stella Inger Escobedo told Schnatter, describing the scene as “heartbreaking.”

“Looks like it’s completely submerged.”

The images of the devastation in the aftermath of the hurricane ‘give you a little perspective’ [as to] how devastating this storm is,” says the pizza mogul.

OAN news anchor Stella Inger Escobedo asked Schnatter about the damage to his $6 million condominium and said his ‘heart goes out’ to those who have lost everything

“I’m not worried about myself because I have the resources and the team and the institutional knowledge, but you can’t imagine how bad this is.”

“My heart goes out to the people of Florida – yes, I’ve lost a house, but they’ve lost everything.”

In addition to the $6 million condominium in Naples that was battered by Hurricane Ian, Schnatter is said to own more than 20 other properties.

His admission that he had lost “a” house drew ridicule from social media users, who also broke into OAN, a famous right-wing news network.

‘Waaaaaa he’s lost a house. So eventually he will buy up the neighbors houses and build another tacky mansion,” one unsympathetic user wrote.

“I’m not worried because I have 600 million and can afford good insurance. OAN is ridiculous,” another denied.

‘Institutional knowledge? Don’t suffer from a hurricane?’ wrote a third skeptical user.

John Schnatter accompanied by images of his flooded house – word ‘hurricane’ was misspelled in OAN slogan during interview

The death toll for the storm, which hit Florida and South Carolina last week, was 109 yesterday, but is expected to rise.

Schnatter has caused controversy before.

In 2018, he was forced to resign as chairman of Papa John’s, the company he founded in 1984, after using the n-word during a conference call with company executives.

He later said he was trying to “get rid of this N-word” from his vocabulary, though he also claimed there was a plot to falsely portray him as a racist by his Papa John’s colleagues and an advertising agency.

Schnatter wasn’t shy about publicly associating his face with the Papa John’s brand, appearing smiling on the restaurant’s pizza boxes and wearing an apron.

It was also reported that he had previously been highly critical of the NFL’s failure to punish black players who kneeled during the national anthem.

In 2017, when he owned 31 percent of Papa John’s stock, Forbes estimated Schnatter’s net worth at $1 billion.

But Schnatter has reportedly sold half of his shares since then, and Celebritynetworth.com estimates his net worth at $500 million.

He started the company in 1984 and quickly expanded it to multiple locations.

In 1993, when he floated the company, there were 254 restaurants, and as of 2020, there were 5,400 Papa John’s locations worldwide, including 3,134 in the US.

Schnatter wasn’t shy about publicly associating his face with the Papa John’s brand, which smiled on the restaurant’s pizza boxes and wore an apron.

Papa John’s also received further bad publicity over its decision to keep its stores open in Russia after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine turned the country into a pariah.