John Schnatter, the founder of the Papa John’s pizza chain, will step down as CEO in the wake of controversial comments he made last month about the NFL’s handling of the anthem protests.

Schnatter will be replaced on Jan. 1 by the company’s chief operating officer, Steve Ritchie. Schnatter will remain chairman of the board.

The 56-year-old founder of the chain came under fire after remarks he made during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. He said Papa John’s — a National Football League sponsor and advertiser — had been “hurt” by the “take a knee” protest led by African-American players to draw attention to police brutality.

“And more importantly, by not resolving the current debacle to the player and owners’ satisfaction, NFL leadership has hurt Papa John’s shareholders,” Schnatter had said during the Nov. 1 call.

“Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership,” he said.

The comments generated a backlash on social media, with some accusing the company of racism. Meanwhile, white supremacists vowed to make Papa John’s the official pizza of the alt-right.

Papa John’s responded in a statement: “We condemn racism in all forms and any and all hate groups that support it. … We do not want these individuals or groups to buy our pizza.”

Schnatter himself has said goodbye to the CEO gig before. He stepped down in 2005, but returned in 2008. In 2010, he took on a co-CEO, Jude Thompson, but that arrangement ended the following year.

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Venus Williams will not be charged in the collision that led to the death of a passenger in another car in Florida earlier this year, according to multiple media outlets quoting local police. The decision marks a reversal from authorities’ initial assessment of the accident, which had laid fault primarily with the longtime tennis icon.

“Based upon this investigation and relevant Florida state statutes, no charges will be filed in this case,” reads the assessment of the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department, as the local Sun Sentinel newspaper reports. The investigation also found no fault with the driver whose car struck Williams’ vehicle.

The department did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.

The results of the probe offer a new twist to the incident, the details of which have been unspooling unevenly since the fatal collision.

At first, authorities said Williams ran a red light and thus caused the crash that injured Jerome Barson, 78, who died of those injuries two weeks later. Yet not long afterward, police announced that surveillance footage appeared to show a different story — that Williams had actually entered the intersection legally before she was cut off and, in the words of The Associated Press, set off “a chain of events that seconds later resulted in a fatal crash with a third car.”

Body camera footage released weeks later offered a closer look at the accident’s aftermath, during which the officer on the scene told Williams he’d say she was at fault — but added, “I don’t feel comfortable writing a citation when I’m not a hundred percent sure, and I’m not a hundred percent sure in this case.”

Williams has not commented publicly on the report reportedly clearing her of blame. In June, after news of the crash surfaced, she wrote on Facebook that she was “devastated and heartbroken by this accident.”

Wednesday’s news does not bring an end to the questions surrounding the incident, however. There may be no criminal charges coming against Williams, but the Sun Sentinel notes that Barson’s family has already filed a lawsuit against her.

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Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney has filed a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics, saying the organization sought to silence her claims of sexual abuse against disgraced team doctor Larry Nassar last year.

Maroney, who earned international fame during the 2012 Summer Games, alleges that American gymnastics’ governing body not only failed to protect athletes from Nassar, but also had her sign a confidentiality agreement last December — after the first of more than 100 women and girls began coming forward with their stories of abuse.

Maroney believes the monetary settlement included a confidentiality provision primarily so that USA Gymnastics — in the words of her complaint — “could further conceal and shield from public scrutiny, outside investigation, and law enforcement, the true nature of NASSAR’s horrific sexual abuse of minors.”

The complaint did not disclose the amount Maroney was paid as part of the settlement, but The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times report it was $1.25 million. Maroney’s filing says she entered the agreement “to obtain funds necessary to pay for lifesaving psychological treatment and care” after her alleged abuse.

Her suit Wednesday aims to nullify that deal as a “direct violation” of California law. It also names as defendants Nassar, the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State University, Nassar’s employer for roughly two decades.

“A simple fact is this: If Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee had paid attention to any of the red flags in Larry Nassar’s behavior, I never would have met him, I never would have been ‘treated’ by him and I never would have been abused by him,” Maroney said in a statement released Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the doctor was sentenced to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct and child pornography. Scores of women and girls, including Maroney’s 2012 Olympic teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, have accused Nassar of sexually assaulting them under the guise of medical treatment.

NBC reports that USA Gymnastics “quietly fired” him in June 2015 after receiving multiple complaints against him and that Nassar “continued to treat, and allegedly abuse, patients at his Michigan State University sports medicine practice.”

As NPR’s Laurel Wamsley reported, Maroney posted her own story on social media just two months ago:

” ‘I had a dream to go to the Olympics,’ she writes in a statement posted to Twitter, ‘and the things that I had to endure to get there, were unnecessary, and disgusting.’

” ‘Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving ‘medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years,” ‘ she writes. ‘It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first National Team training camps, in Texas, and it didn’t end until I left the sport.’ She says the abuse continued in London during the 2012 games.

“Maroney says the scariest night of her life happened when she was 15 years old, when the team traveled to Tokyo. She says Nassar gave her a sleeping pill to help her sleep on the flight, and when she awoke she was alone with him in his hotel room, ‘getting a “treatment.’ ” She does not describe his specific actions.

” ‘I thought I was going to die that night,’ she writes.”

She elaborated on the abuse in her complaint, saying she was repeatedly molested by Nassar — across three continents and often at competitions “hosted, sanctioned, supervised, and/or endorsed” by the U.S. Olympic Commitee.

When Maroney tweeted her story in October, USA Gymnastics applauded her in a public statement.

“USA Gymnastics admires the courage of those, like McKayla Maroney, who have come forward to share their personal experiences with sexual abuse,” the group said, adding: “We, like so many others, are outraged and disgusted by the conduct of which Larry Nassar is accused. We are sorry that any athlete has been harmed during her or his gymnastics career.”

The organization did not immediately offer public comment on Maroney’s allegations.

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There is a new world record for sailing around the world: 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds. If verified, it is more than 6 days faster than the previous record, set a year earlier.

French sailor François Gabart, aboard a 100-foot trimaran, set out on Nov. 4 to break the record held by countryman Thomas Coville. On Sunday, Gabart crossed the virtual finish between France’s northwest tip and Lizard Point in southwest England at 0145 GMT before turning homeward to Brest in northwestern France.

He reportedly averaged 27.2 knots (31.3 mph) over 27,859.7 nautical miles.

Making such a journey is a difficult feat. It involves tackling the cold and stormy Southern Ocean that rings Antarctica, all the while tending a high-performance sailing vessel at the edge of its performance envelope.

After reaching Brest, Gabart, 34, said he was “aching all over.”

“[It’s] been like that for weeks, weeks since a proper sleep – I can hardly go on,” he told reporters after making landfall at Brest.

“It was hard and I was on the very edge of things the whole time.”

Exhausted or not, Gabart managed to share a bottle of champagne with his shore crew.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet but I know it’s a great time,” he said.

Britain’s Dame Ellen MacArthur won the title for fastest non-stop circumnavigation in 2005, but lost it to Francis Joyon of France. She regained it three years later.

Gabart’s record must be verified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, which will scrutinize his vessel’s GPS data before signing off on the new record.

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Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced Sunday that he would put his team up for sale at the end of the season after the National Football League said it was opening an investigation into accusations of workplace misconduct against him.

“I believe that it is time to turn the franchise over to new ownership,” Richardson, 81, said in a statement on the team’s website. “Therefore, I will put the team up for sale at the end of this NFL season.”

Two days ago, the team said it was conducting an internal investigation into Richardson’s conduct, but did not specify the nature of the allegations. Sports Illustrated says they include sexual harassment of multiple female employees and a racial slur.

Hours before Richardson’s announcement on Sunday, NFL.com reported that the league was opening its own investigation into the allegations.

In the statement on Friday announcing the internal investigation, the Panthers said the team was “committed to ensuring a safe, comfortable and diverse work environment where all individuals, regardless of sex, race, color, religion, gender, or sexual identity or orientation, are treated fairly and equally.”

The Panthers announced that former White House chief of staff to President Clinton, Erskine Bowles — who is a minority owner of the team — would oversee the investigation by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan.

SI, quoting unnamed sources, detailed what it claims were inappropriate comments made by Richardson about how female employees fit into their jeans, as well as “Multiple female employees [recalling] to SI that Richardson asked them if he could personally shave their legs,” the magazine said.

” … on multiple occasions when Richardson’s conduct has triggered complaints—for sexual harassment against female employees and for directing a racial slur at an African American employee—he has taken a leaf from a playbook he’s deployed in the past: Confidential settlements were reached and payments were made to complainants, accompanied by non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses designed to shield the owner and the organization from further liability and damaging publicity,” according to SI.

Following Richardson’s announcement of the team’s impending sale, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry both issued tweets saying they were interested in buying.

ESPN writes: “Richardson was awarded the franchise in October 1993. The Panthers played their first season in 1995. Richardson previously had a plan in place that called for the team to be sold within two years of his death. Richardson reached a deal with Charlotte officials in 2013, when the city agreed to pay $87.5 million in upgrades to Bank of America Stadium that would keep the Panthers there through June 2019.”

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