Papa John’s Ex-CEO Defends Goya – And I’m Not the Least Bit Surprised

• Disgraced Papa John’s founder John Schnatter defended Goya CEO Robert Unanue.
• Schnatter claims that Unanue shouldn’t be “scared of the intolerant left” when he gushes about Donald Trump.
• Once again, conservatives get the concept of “freedom of speech” hilariously wrong.

We hadn’t heard much from Papa John’s founder John Schnatter since that infamous viral interview  in which a visibly-sweaty Schnatter ranted about eating 40 pizzas in 30 days.

Well, the disgraced ex-CEO is back. He came out swinging for the fences on behalf of Goya CEO Robert Unanue, who recently made some — shall we say — “questionable” statements in favor of Donald Trump. 

Papa John’s Founder Really Has No Room to Talk

You may recall that John Schnatter, the “Papa John” behind Papa John’s, had to step down as CEO after he made racist comments criticizing NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem.

That stance proved to rather short-sighted, to say the least.  Three years later, Schnatter still hasn’t let it go.

At the crux of the controversy with Goya Foods  is CEO Robert Unanue’s praise of Donald Trump.

Unanue, a third-generation Latinx immigrant, said the country was “blessed” to have Trump as a president. Even though Trump has a rather gross history of putting children of Latinx immigrants in cages  and making racist comments about them, to boot .

This support of Trump triggered a backlash against Goya Foods, which prompted Schnatter to rush to Unanue’s defense.

He claims that because the Goya boss was at the receiving end of a boycott, he was being “persecuted” by the left.

Everybody on the left keeps preaching diversity unless it’s diversity of thought, diversity of philosophy, or diversity of ideology. And if you don’t think a certain way, then you get persecuted. That’s not diversity. If you don’t believe 100 percent in their ideology, then they persecute you, they attack you. And I think that’s extremely unhealthy for the country. And I think it’s a really bad path for the CEOs to go down. And I think they’re scared.

Apparently, what the Papa John’s founder calls “persecution” is what economists call “capitalism.”

Freedom of Speech Does Not Mean Freedom from Consequences

Let’s get one thing out of the way: No matter how wonderful, or disgusting, Donald Trump is, Unanue can freely choose whether to support him. 

And, in response, consumers can choose whether to purchase Goya products.

Just as conservatives boycotted Nike after Colin Kaepernick “took a knee” and boycotted Starbucks when its CEO spoke out  against the Trump campaign, liberals have the right to boycott Goya when its CEO speaks out in support of Trump.

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.

Surely, a Freedom Loving American Patriot like former Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter can appreciate that.