Papa John's founder John Schnatter has resigned as the company's chairman of the board for using the N-word on a conference call in May. "The independent directors of the company have accepted the resignation of John H. Schnatter as Chairman of the Board," the company said late Wednesday in a brief statement. "Papa John’s will appoint a new Chairman of the Board in the coming weeks." Schnatter's n-bomb came when he was asked how he would distance his pizza empire from racist groups online. He responded by saying, "Colonel Sanders called blacks n**gers," and pointing out that the KFC icon didn't face any backlash for it. According to Forbes, Schnatter also reflected on his Indiana upbringing, where, he said, people would kill African-Americans by dragging them from the backs of trucks. On Wednesday, he apologized for his remarks, issuing a statement to Forbes which read, "News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true," said Schnatter, whose company recently pulled its sponsorship from the NFL. "Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society."