Shaquille O’Neal is joining Pap John’s board of directors?!

In an interesting twist of fates, it appears that Papa John’s Pizza is looking to turn over a new leaf with the hiring of the first Black person on their board of directors. Less than a year after Papa John’s founder John Schnatter sparked major controversy with his racial charged and atrocious statements towards Black American NFL players, it appears that the company is looking to show that they’re far from bigoted with their most recent hiring.

But the company hasn’t hired any average individual. The pizza chain has just hired on former professional NBA player and multiple time champion Shaquille O’Neal as the newest member of Papa John’s board of directors.

Could this move help to mitigate the backlash of John Schnatter’s racist commentary against NFL protesters? At least on the surface it appears to be just that.

Shaquille O’Neal is a major sports figure and could potentially breathe new life into the Papa John’s franchise nationwide and particularly in Atlanta, Georgia where the former basketball hopes to make the company flourish. Blavity and CNN report that since John Schnatter stepped down as CEO of Papa John’s the company has tried unsuccessfully to improve their financial status with failed diversity campaigns. The three year, $8.25 million deal with Shaquille O’Neal has already seemed to have bumped up Papa John’s stock 5 percent since the announcement.

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Managing Editor at Generation Iron, Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.