After foolishly wading in to the controversy surrounding the national anthem at NFL games, Papa John’s founder John Schnatter realized he needed to improve his public image. It did not go well.

John Schnatter—the founder, chairman and public face of pizza chain Papa John’s—used the N-word on a conference call in May. Schnatter confirmed the incident in an emailed statement to Forbes on Wednesday.

The call was arranged between Papa John’s executives and marketing agency Laundry Service. It was designed as a role-playing exercise for Schnatter in an effort to prevent future public-relations snafus…On the May call, Schnatter was asked how he would distance himself from racist groups online. He responded by downplaying the significance of his NFL statement. “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s,” Schnatter said, before complaining that Sanders never faced public backlash.

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that someone who’s whining out a “But Colonel Sanders did it!” defense is also oblivious enough to not just say “the N-word”.