Whoever coined "Sticks and stones may break my bones; butt-words will never hurt me," obviously never ordered from Papa John's.
The pizza chain's chairman and CEO John Schnatter issued an apology ate humble pie after a (now former) employee in Sanford, Fla., butt-dialed a customer and inadvertently left a racist rant on the African-American costumer's voicemail. In the message the deliveryman can be heard complaining to a fellow employee about the five-dollar tip the customer left him.
He continues to make cracks at the customer's expense, repeatedly employing racial slurs and even incorporating them into a song at one point. (Spoiler alert: He's no Bruce Springsteen.)
This marks the third time this month the hyphenate "butt-dial" has made national headlines.
Understandably cheesed off at being the butt of the pizza guy's classless joke, the customer refused to just turn the other cheek. Instead, he took to YouTube where he uploaded the voicemail and explained that five dollars comprised a reasonable 21 percent of his total bill. Just a warning for the puerile-eared among you, the language in the video gets a little, shall we say, indelicate. And extremely offensive.
The city of Sanford is no stranger to racial controversy as the location of Trayvon Martin's fatal shooting. George Zimmerman's murder trial will be held in the town's courthouse this June.
This marks the third time this month the hyphenate "butt-dial" has made national headlines. First, there were the two bumbling burglars who somehow managed to call 911 mid-heist. Then, a Florida man made a startlingly similar mistake while casually discussing his plans to commit murder. In more innocuous posterior-communication news, check out this hilarious video of repeat offender — longtime New York Mets public relations official Jay Horowitz.
To avoid embarrassing faux pas like these, app developers have created things like Call Confirm and No Pocket Dial.
No matter how you slice it, it's been a rough month for Papa John's, between an employee delivering $45,000 worth of cocaine via pizza boxes (So that's what "Free Coke with every large three-topping" means!) and the loss of a 100 pizza bet to Spike Lee.
Not all press has been bad press for the pizza conglomerate, though. This month, Papa John's began a campaign to benefit the troops and another to offer relief to Oklahoma tornado victims.
In other pizza news, a delivery guy in Russia was recently caught on camera snacking on the pie he was supposed to be delivering.
Papa John's Pizza CEO John Schnatter
