Discrimination or racial profiling

In 2018, 2 Black men walked into a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia and asked to use the restroom. They had not purchased anything, so an employee refused the request. After sitting and chatting with each other for some time, these men were asked to leave, but declined, resulting in an employee calling the police.

Some of what happened next was recorded in a video that has been viewed more than 8 million times on Twitter and was described by the CEO of Starbucks as “very hard to watch.” The men, who have not been identified, were arrested on suspicion of trespassing. But, Starbucks did not want to press charges and the men were later released. Details of the episode ignited widespread criticism on social media, created anger among public officials and prompted investigations.

Not long after the incident, the hashtag #BoycottStarbucks was trending on Twitter. Kevin R. Johnson, Starbucks’ CEO, released a statement in which he called the situation a “reprehensible outcome.” He also pledged to investigate, and to “make any necessary changes to our practices that would help prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again. Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling Regretfully, our practices and training led to a bad outcome—the basis for the call to the Philadelphia Police Department was wrong. Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did.”