You Might Want to Rethink

Ousted Papa John's founder, John Schnatter, is talking in doublespeak ... insisting he's not racist, but copping to having to purge the n-word from his repertoire to prove it.

The former CEO of the pizza chain -- who got the boot a few years back for allegedly uttering the n-word in a conference call -- made an appearance on the far-right news channel, OAN ... where he was rehashing his experience, which he paints as a de facto coup.

At one point, Schnatter says the Board wrongly portrayed him as a racist -- adding he's been up at night since then, wondering how they got away with it.

Then comes the contradictory line ... JS says for the past 20 months, he's had 3 goals -- 1) "to get rid of this n-word in my vocabulary and dictionary and everything else because it's just not true," 2) figuring how they did this and 3) to get on with his life.

That first goal is a doozy to unpack. On its face, it sounds like he's admitting the n-word is a regular thing that shows up in his convos all the time, and that he's needed 20 months to exorcise himself of it.

Something tells us that's not what he meant -- he might've been trying to say "get rid of this n-word scandal" -- but that's certainly not how it came out. BTW, Schnatter keeps putting his foot in his mouth with these TV interviews, intentionally or not.

Remember, in 2019 ... he did another TV spot where he admitted he'd eaten 40 pizzas in 30 days (to see how they're holding up without him) -- and it just came off as sad and pathetic.

Bam Margera is learning hot tubs and fresh ink don't mix -- he needed a hospital stay to treat a staph infection from his latest tattoo.

The "Jackass" star was hospitalized over the weekend after experiencing pain in the same leg that's home to his new Farsi tatt. Bam's no stranger to pain -- it's kinda been his job for years -- so ya gotta imagine he was really hurting bad.

Bam says he had a staph infection, and sources close to him tell us the leg was likely infected when he went into a hot tub.

As anyone with tattoos likely knows, you're supposed to take it easy after getting inked up ... and hot tubs really sound like a bad idea, especially with leg tatts. Tough lesson here for Bam.

Burger King has a funny way of promoting gender equality -- because it said something totally sexist about women ... as a way to plug a new initiative supporting them.

Yes, this is what honchos at BK's British office thought would be a good campaign to hype a new scholarship program -- tweeting early Monday, "Women belong in the kitchen."

As the Internet started dragging them, BK added ... "If they want to, of course. Yet only 20% of chefs are women. We're on a mission to change the gender ratio in the restaurant industry by empowering female employees with the opportunity to pursue a culinary career. #IWD."

See what they did there? Piss off everyone with one disgustingly misogynistic tweet, then hit 'em with ... wait, we're doing a good thing!

BK says the scholarship is meant to uplift their female employees, who wanna move past fry cook and be bona fide chefs.

BTW ... March 8 is International Women's Day -- a worldwide holiday aimed at celebrating ladies everywhere. For some reason, Burger King ran with this as their #IWD campaign.

A couple hours after the in-poor-taste rollout ... Burger King UK added one last clarifying tweet -- "We are proud to be launching a new scholarship programme which will help female Burger King employees pursue their culinary dreams!"

Meghan Markle's claims of racism against the Royal Family appear to be partially backed up by the fact this very issue came up early on -- remember the brooch?

If ya don't, Princess Michael -- who's married to one of Queen Elizabeth's cousins -- apologized back in late 2017 when she was called out for wearing a Blackamoor brooch to a Royal gathering Meghan attended ... the first Christmas lunch since getting with Harry.

The brooch depicts a dark-skinned person wearing a turban, and it's thought to glorify colonialism and servitude ... as that line of jewelry often portrays POC in lesser-than positions.

Princess Michael said she meant nothing by it when she wore it to the lunch, and wasn't trying to offend or send a message to Meghan specifically.

Still, it's not a good look in light of what Meghan and Harry alleged in the explosive tell-all with Oprah -- namely, that they'd been informed by a member or members of the Royal Family that Archie's skin color could potentially be a problem, if he was born "too dark."

They wouldn't name the alleged perpetrator(s), but Harry did rule out 2 names in a follow-up chat ... saying neither Queen Elizabeth nor Prince Philip uttered such words.

Kyle Larson was back in NASCAR's victory lane Sunday for the first time since he publicly used the n-word ... and Bubba Wallace was one of the 1st people to congratulate the guy.

Just 11 months after Larson infamously dropped the slur during a virtual race last April ... the 28-year-old smoked the field to win the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas.

And, not only was Bubba waiting for him on the winner's stage to give him a handshake and a hug ... the most famous Black driver in NASCAR also said he was "proud and happy" for Larson afterward.

"Told him way to keep his head thru it all!" Wallace said of Larson's win. "We all knew it was a matter of time.."

Added Larson, "It meant a lot to have Bubba come to victory lane ... He said congrats. He's always believed in me. So that was special."

As we previously reported, Larson faced tremendous backlash after a hot mic caught him using the n-word on a live race stream in April 2020.

He was fired from his racing team, dropped by major sponsors and suspended by NASCAR over it all.

Larson -- who apologized vehemently for the incident and insisted he was not racist -- was reinstated by NASCAR in October ... and was signed by Hendrick Motorsports a short time later.

Sunday's race was just Larson's fourth with the new team.

Bubba, meanwhile, has supported Larson from the start of the entire drama ... saying at the time of the incident, "I am not mad at him, and I believe that he, along with most people deserve second chances."

Pepe Le Pew's problematic behavior appears to have been something Warner Bros. was well aware of before he was called out anew ... because he reportedly doesn't make a single appearance in the new 'Space Jam.'

A new Deadline report explains that the Looney Tunes character actually had a scene written into the movie early on in the production, when director Terence Nance was still at the helm. Apparently, there was a 'Casablanca'-like scene in which Pepe played a bartender and tried kissing the arm of a human character, portrayed by actress Greice Santo.

Deadline says Santo pulls back and slapped Pepe silly ... and LeBron James actually gave him a pep talk of sorts, letting him know it wasn't cool to get grabby without consent. The outlet also says Pepe referenced his longtime muse, Penelope Pussycat, and said she'd taken out a restraining order against him ... at least that's what was going to be in the flick before it was scrapped when Malcolm D. Lee took over as director.

Word is, the Pepe scene was axed entirely in the final cut of the film -- which is set to debut this summer -- and according to folks who've seen a screening of the movie, per Deadline, they say there's no trace of Pepe anywhere in what people will see on HBO Max.

Remember, Pepe IS in the original ... and has a few moments of screen time where he stinks up the place to score points -- and even jumps on an old woman to kiss her.

Now, whether this decision to lose Pepe altogether was made because of the NYT controversy -- in which a writer said the skunk normalized rape culture -- it would seem the two things are unrelated ... or so says Deadline. It's unclear why exactly he got nixed.

LeBron James was just asked if he would get a COVID-19 vaccine when he's able to -- and rather than firmly come out and say yes, he waffled ... which is startling.

King James did a 20-minute-plus interview Sunday for NBA All-Star Weekend ... and at one point he was asked how he's been able to stay COVID-free and relatively healthy throughout the pandemic. Bron chalked it up to luck and faith ... saying he just follows the protocols handed down by the league to a T, going straight home after he plays in games/practices.

Another 'rona question was raised at the very end of the interview ... a reporter asked if he himself would get vaccinated whenever that became an option, and whether he'd encourage everyone in the Players Association to do the same. He also referenced Adam Silver's recent remark that he was gonna leave it up to NBA players and not make it mandatory.

Silver said ... "My hunch is that most players ultimately will choose to get vaccinated. They have to make personal decisions at the end of the day."

In response, LeBron said this about his own decision on the vaccine ... "That's a conversation that, you know, my family and I will have. And, probably pretty much keep that to a private thing." He said he was aware of Silver's comments, but insisted it was something to be discussed among the family and not in public, and that's where he was going to keep it.

That's fascinating, considering LeBron is by far one of the most influential people in the world ... and perhaps the second or third most influential African-American. The fact he's wishy-washy on whether he'll get it speaks volumes, and could well influence others in the community.

Of course, vaccinations have been a major issue in the Black community ... as many simply don't trust it -- due to a number of historical atrocities perpetuated onto African-Americans and other factors as well. But, many prominent Black role models have been trying to convince the Black community this vaccine is safe and worth taking ... like the late, great Hank Aaron.

Meghan Markle's struggles adjusting to Royal life are getting ZERO sympathy from someone in the 'Real Housewives' world ... that'd be Bethenny Frankel, who's got choice words for the Duchess.

The 'RHONY' star absolutely shredded Meghan Sunday just hours before her tell-all interview with Oprah was set to air on CBS ... invoking Justin Timberlake in telling her to take her woe-is-me moment and basically shove it.

Bethenny writes, "Cry me a river...the plight of being a game show host, fairly unknown actress, to suffering in a palace, w tiaras & 7 figure weddings for TWO WHOLE YEARS to being a household name w @Oprah on speed dial, fetching 7 m for interviews, hundreds of millions in media deals. Thinking face #MARRY"

On Saturday, Bethenny aired out even more of her grievances over the coverage the interview was getting ... saying, "Not since @MonicaLewinsky interview, have people been obsessed with a young female interview like this #MARRY interview. Remember the famous lip gloss?"

Someone replied to her with a collage of headlines past about how her staff had reportedly been catty towards her right out the gate ... and that's what set Bethenny off anew.

She continued with her tirade, going on to say she gives Harry a break here -- as she doesn't feel he's the one pulling the strings for all this press the couple is now receiving ... something he's repeatedly said he's not a big fan of in light of what happened to his mother, Diana.

BF ended her thoughts with one last apparent shot at Meghan, writing ... "I chose reality tv, to work towards making $, to be scrutinized & criticized. I took the trappings & the beatings along with it. It’s a rose w petals & thorns. People beg to enter the often toxic institution I signed up for. That WAS the life I chose. You can’t play stupid & smart."

A brawl broke out at a Bath & Body Works in Arizona, where the employees of all people are the ones who stepped in ... and proceeded to whoop on a woman.

Check out this insane fight that broke out over the weekend at the Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale -- where a middle-aged woman is said to have been causing a ruckus inside with another customer before s*** hit the fan.

The person who shot this claims the lady was standing too close to another customer and they started arguing ... something she says the workers tried deescalating.

At some point, somebody put hands on the other ... and all hell broke loose. You see an employee start to go at it with the blonde woman, while her co-worker rushes over to help ... knocking everyone over in the process. Not too far away, another woman gets into it with yet another worker.

Eventually, a male employee steps in to break it up -- and he orders the women who were fighting to get the heck out of their establishment. The blonde lady tells him to stop touching her, and then says she ain't leaving 'til she can get her purse amid the commotion.

Somebody else got a different angle, and it looks like they shot some of what precipitated this. Sure enough, this older white woman is indeed arguing with an African-American woman ... and you hear some politically charged rhetoric. The African-American woman calls the white woman "trailer park trash" ... and it's downhill from there.

Unclear if this had anything to do with it -- but we should note, the main character here doesn't seem to be wearing a face covering. We reached out to this location and BBW HQ as well ... the Scottsdale store had no comment, no word back yet from corporate.

Idaho is attempting to pass legislation that would make it illegal for government entities to enforce mask mandates -- something folks there are celebrating by rolling out burn barrels and having their children fan the flames with actual face coverings.

The supposed state-wide protest happening Saturday is being dubbed #FreeIdaho or #BurnTheMask -- and it was organized, in part, by Idaho State Representatives Dorothy Moon and Heather Scott ... who plugged the event earlier this week in a joint video they filmed.

The politicians say they support the "grassroots" movement to show disapproval of different mandates that have gone into effect across the state over the past year. There's no state-wide mask mandate, but about 9 counties and 10 ID cities have such emergency orders.

A website they published for this cause also laid out a number of different "burn sites" all throughout Idaho -- with a major one being held right outside the Idaho Capitol steps.

Check out these photos that show several different adults and families encouraging their kids to grab surgical masks by the handful and toss them into the flames of metal barrels with fire inside.

It's pretty eerie to watch ... because the kids, who probably don't know any better, laugh with glee as they get rounds of applause for each time they throw a mask into the embers.

Of course, the pandemic is far from over ... and while the cases are dropping nationwide and Idaho's only had about 1,800 confirmed deaths related to COVID ... it's no time to abandon mask-wearing entirely, something some states are choosing to do as the vaccines roll out.

Like we said, about a dozen Republicans in the Idaho state legislature intro'd a bill this past week that would outlaw mask mandates, including in schools and universities. Private businesses would still be able to enforce mask-wearing, however, if passed.

A bill being proposed in California would make it illegal to advertise certain sections of retail stores as just for boys or just for girls ... including clothes and toys.

The bill, AB 1084, was just introduced into the California legislature late last month by Assemblymembers Evan Low of the Bay Area and Cristina Garcia of Los Angeles ... which aims to do away with gendered signage in big department stores of 500+ employees.

In other words, places like Target, Walmart or Kohls that sells childcare items, children's toys/products or children's wardrobe wouldn't be able to steer folks to certain sections based on sex -- it would just be a free-for-all ... where parents and kids could roam freely to what they liked. They'd also be prohibited from dividing the floor space up by gender.

There's more ... any websites these stores operate would have to change their categories too -- so instead of boys/girls (whatever) ... it'd read "kids," "unisex" or "gender-neutral." We should also note, some of these stores have already started designating certain sections of their floor as gender-neutral -- like Target, which apparently made the move in 2015.

As for why they're trying to make this official ... supposedly, for fairness and equity for kids, who might not like what a gendered section has to offer and want something from the other side. For example, low publicly cited an anecdote from a fellow staffer ... whose 9-year-old daughter was confused on why she had to go the boys toy section to get a science kit.

Oh, and if this passes ... it wouldn't just be a slap on the wrist for those who don't comply -- these big-box chains would be fined $1,000 each time they violate the would-be law.

The reactions to the bill -- which could be introduced in committee for discussion/voting as early as March 21 -- are quite mixed ... many are criticizing it as unnecessary and frivolous (especially amid a pandemic) but others support it and say it's a step in the right direction.

On the heels of Dr. Seuss being muzzled for racist depictions in a few books, another beloved childhood memory is also being called problematic ... one Pepe Le Pew.

The Looney Tunes character fell into the crosshairs of NYT columnist Charles M. Blow -- who wrote an op-ed titled "Six Seuss Books Bore a Bias" ... where he argued racism is deeply embedded into American culture (especially pop culture) and fed to kids at a young age.

He brought up cartoons like Speedy Gonzales and Mammy Two Shoes -- the former being another LT character he says pushed racist stereotypes against Mexicans and the latter being a Tom & Jerry character portrayed as a heavyset Black maid who speaks with a caricaturized voice. You usually just see her legs/feet ... but her full figure was depicted too.

Those two examples specifically address his race concern, but he threw in Pepe as well as another 'toon that telegraphed the wrong message ... saying the French skunk normalized and perpetuated rape culture. Of course, a lot of people had very different reactions -- some agreeing, and others lambasting Blow for suggesting a drawing could sway real-life behavior.

To that, Blow responded ... "RW blogs are mad bc I said Pepe Le Pew added to rape culture. Let’s see. 1. He grabs/kisses a girl/stranger, repeatedly, w/o consent and against her will. 2. She struggles mightily to get away from him, but he won’t release her 3. He locks a door to prevent her from escaping." It's true ... Penelope Pussycat was often in Pepe's clutches.

Still, some say he's reaching to make a point ... and that the cartoon was never meant to be interpreted that way, adding it was all in good fun and that no child would absorb Pepe's behavior as something to be mimicked. Fair enough, but the cartoon theory isn't novel.

The great Dave Chappelle once touched on this exact issue in a stand-up special of his, "Killin' Them Softly," where he TOO brought up Pepe Le Pew ... and flat-out called him a rapist. He discussed other kid shows that looked much different through an adult lens -- like "Sesame Street" characters ... which he hilariously compared to troubled adults.

Amanda Gorman, the poet who stole the show at President Biden's inauguration, says she went from hero to suspect, adding it's a reality of what Black girls are forced to endure.

Amanda was walking home Friday -- apparently in L.A. -- when a security guard seemingly felt she was a threat and followed her. When she got to her home, she says he demanded to know if she lived there because "you look suspicious."

Amanda says she showed the guard her keys and went inside, but that's not the end of the story. After the guard realized she lived there, there was no apology ... nothing.

Amanda says, "This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day a threat."

To that Amanda agreed ... "In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be."

I do not like green eggs and ham ...

And, your reading is a sham, Kevin I am.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy appeared clueless as he read Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" out loud ... presumably in protest of the decision to yank 6 of the famed author's books because of racist images.

McCarthy apparently wasn't down with the decision, but his choice of books to read in defiance misses the point. Fact is ... "Green Eggs and Ham" was NOT pulled. The books that were pulled ... "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!" and "The Cat's Quizzer."

What's more ... Congress is debating a pretty important bill -- getting stimulus checks to suffering Americans, and here sits McCarthy reading Dr. Seuss.

"Entourage" star Kevin Connolly put the E in "eruption" after his car got towed at a flower shop ... and the store's banning him after the blow-up.

The manager of Nicolai Bergmann Flowers & Design in L.A. tells TMZ ... there’s a podcast studio next to the shop, and they claim Kevin's frequently parked his Tesla in their parking lot ... presumably while recording podcasts.

On Tuesday, the manager says the shop had enough -- after having left multiple notes on Kevin's car about jacking their parking -- so after it had been there more than an hour ... they called a tow truck.

Kev's car alarm was sounding as the tow truck left with his baby.

Shortly afterward, Kevin entered the flower shop -- captured on security camera -- and appeared to grow increasingly irritated while speaking to the staff.

We're told he asked where his car was and was told to call the towing company ... and that's when you see him getting really upset. Kevin appears to yell at someone as he's walking out, then delivers a couple of swift kicks to items near the exit.

The shop manager says the business is closing soon, but regardless ... Kevin is not allowed to come back to the store while it remains open.

The judge in the "QAnon Shaman" case is scratching his head over decisions made by the infamous defendant ... in particular, his decision to do a LONG interview with "60 Minutes+."

The accused insurrectionist, whose real name is Jacob Chansley, was called on the carpet by the judge for doing the jailhouse interview, which appeared on "60 Minutes+."

Chansley's lawyer told the judge yes, they did arrange for the interview, but felt everything was kosher. Apparently, the judge didn't see it that way.

Chansley, who says he's been in solitary since being arrested, said he was never violent inside the Capitol. He says his participation was "not an attack on this country" ... an interesting argument, given the images of him in the Senate Chamber.

He also says he's still loyal to Trump, despite being overlooked for a pardon. He makes it clear ... he did what he did at the former President's behest.