The liberal coffeehouse chain Starbucks found itself in major hot water this week after one of its stores called the cops on two men who had sought to use its restroom without making a purchase.
The altercation occurred last Thursday in Philadelphia after two black men entered a downtown Starbucks and asked to use the facility’s restroom, according to local radio station WHYY.
Employees denied them access because of a company policy that limits restroom use to only customers who first purchase something.
Let’s pause here to establish that this is now a racial issue, since they are black. Nevermind that they could just as easily have been white, oriental, Hispanic or midget sumo wrestlers.
It’s unclear what happened afterward, except that the employees reportedly contacted local authorities to complain that the two men were refusing to leave.
When the authorities arrived, they placed the two men under arrest, triggering outrage from other customers.
“This is ridiculous. What did they get called for, because there are two black guys sitting here meeting me?” one customer complained to the cops during the arrest, as seen in the video above.
“They didn’t do anything, I saw the entire thing,” another added.
Though the two men were later released after Starbucks chose to not pursue charges, the backlash on social media and elsewhere was absolutely brutal:
Black people aren’t free, just loose.
If #Starbucks doesn’t apologize, fire that stupid, racist manager and compensate those men? #BoycottStarbucks FOREVER.— James M Williams Jr (@JamesMWilliam18) April 15, 2018
There were two eye witnesses, a woman making a video, and a guy in the video all sharing the same story…
Stop saying “You don’t know the whole story…”
You just refuse to believe the one presented. #BoycottStarbucks
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) April 15, 2018
Montgomery, Alabama in 1958
or
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2018Hard to tell the difference, isn’t it?#BLM #BoycottStarbucks pic.twitter.com/gx84DXcdBS
— Kaz Weida (@kazweida) April 14, 2018
After seeing the video I can’t believe Starbucks didn’t take a bigger stand for their employees poor actions.
There are plenty of local coffee shops who will get my business. #BoycottStarbucks
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) April 14, 2018
Notice the #BoycottStarbucks hashtag that appeared in every tweet.
Starbucks eventually released an official apology statement Saturday afternoon, but by then the damage had already been done:
We apologize to the two individuals and our customers for what took place at our Philadelphia store on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/suUsytXHks
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) April 14, 2018
The Philadelphia Police Department has likewise receiving scathing backlash for its decision to arrest the two men, but Commissioner Richard Ross is adamant that his officers took the right course of action.
“It is important for me to say that, in short, these officers did absolutely nothing wrong. They followed policy. They did what they were supposed to do. They were professional in all of their dealings with these gentlemen and instead they got the opposite back,” he said.
“As an African-American male, I am very aware of implicit bias,” he added. “We are committed to fair and unbiased policing and anything less than that will not be tolerated in this department.”
It should be noted that it remains unclear what happened between the time the two men were denied the right to use the Starbucks’ restroom and the time the store’s employees dialed police.
Did the two men act belligerently? Did they create a scene? We just don’t know, not that this mattered to the liberals on social media:
I feel like the Philadelphia police need to be grilled with questions too since they tried to justify the arrests. A racist employee can easily be fired, but a racist police force is much more difficult to work with #BoycottStarbucks
— Becca🇺🇸🌹🌊🗽 (@NastyWoman96) April 14, 2018
Remember, it is one racist asshole that works at @Starbucks. The Philadelphia Police are to blame for this. It isn’t #StarbuckingWhileBlack it is #LivingWhileBlack The saddest thing is that we are relieved that at least they didn’t get shot. #BlackLivesMatter
— Jason R. Elliott (@novabeatnik) April 15, 2018
Someone tried to tell me earlier this week that the Philadelphia police department was not racist and that MOVE happened “40 years ago” so it’s not a reflection of the police department today. Rightttt.
— B 🌱 (@theveganparent) April 15, 2018
Following the dual-sided riots in Charlottesville last summer, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz injected himself into the controversy by blaming all white people for what happened.
“I know we’re better than this. The bigotry, hatred, and senseless violence against people who are not white cannot stand,” he said.
Never mind the violence of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, I guess.
It’s ironic that the man who loves to play the left’s sick identity politics game has now become a victim of the same mentality he once displayed.
The fact is that there’s no proof that what happened at the Philadelphia Starbucks involved race. But this doesn’t matter to the liberals on social media, just like the facts about the Charlottesville riotssurely didn’t matter to Howard Schultz.
Via BizPAC
by Doyle Alexander via enVolve
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