re: New Popeyes/Copeland Cookbook: Secrets of a Tastemaker

quote:

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Al was a complete piece of shite, and his restaurants are gutter food establishments. Screw that guy and this sycophantic book.

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Yikes. I knew him pretty well growing up and our kids went to school together. We apparently knew two very different people.

True

Him and his sons did coke together, uncontrollably. When one of his sons was in rehab struggling with addiction, he would still do coke around him. All of that coke meant he had some serious rage moments that he would randomly unleash on employees.

He slept with many Copeland hostesses on his boats. Young - too young.

He pulled a gun on one of his area directors in a meeting for making fun of his alligator skin shoes.

He was part of quite a few public fights at bars and the big one that happened at Morton’s Steakhouse against the Guidry family.

He was caught bribing a judge in one of his divorces.

The guy was a narcissist, did steroids, went through 4 wives with over the top weddings, and had more plastic surgery than a Kardashin. Bicep implants, cheeks, the whole 9.

He had f you money, and loved to show it. I can’t quite remember the story, but he didn’t get approved for a license or something in Virginia, so he bought a brand new Lamborghini, drove it to the middle of licensing offices lawn, and left it there, just to show that he could.

All that being said, he gave a lot back to the community, had some of the greatest parties New Orleans has ever seen, built a business that employed thousands and set examples for other local entrepreneurs - many of whom worked for him at one point or another.