Fake Starbucks Coupons Appear Online After Arrests

From Delish

Internet hoaxers have created fake Starbucks coupons offering people of color one free drink following the arrests of two black men at a Philadelphia store last week.

According to BuzzFeed News, one coupon originated in a thread on the forums at 4chan, and offered one free beverage of any variety to "people of color only."

"We're sorry. We know we can do better," the fictional apology from the company read. "Starbucks values all people of color, and we are working on employee sensitivity training. The best dialogue starts over a cup of coffee, and we'd like to buy you one."

A second coupon appeared on Twitter for people of "African-American heritage."

However, a spokesperson for Starbucks told BuzzFeed News that the coupons are not legitimate and cannot be used at any of their stores. “These are completely false and in no way associated with Starbucks," the representative said.

A false statement from the CEO of Starbucks also made the rounds online. In the letter, Kevin Johnson was quoted as saying that a hoax offering one free drink to people of color was the work of "Russian Internet trolls," but added that due to "mountains of positive feedback on social media," he had decided to make the hoax a reality.

According to this made-up coupon, from April 19 to 26, all Starbucks customers, regardless of race, could purchase one free drink and get 50% off all food items. A representative for the company confirmed to NBC News, “This is also completely false and in no way associated with Starbucks.”

In reality, Starbucks is actually making changes after facing heavy criticism for alleged racial bias. On April 12, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were visiting a local coffee shop for a business meeting, but within minutes were arrested for trespassing, which many critics said was solely due to color of their skin. They were released early Friday morning after spending eight hours in jail, and footage of the incident immediately surfaced online.

"In that moment, I was trying to process what was going on, because it didn't really hit me that it was real until I'm being double-locked and my hands behind my back," Robinson said on Good Morning America. "I want to make sure this situation doesn't happen again."

The global coffee chain plans to shut down its U.S. stores for several hours on one day in May to conduct racial-bias training to its nearly 175,000 workers, the company announced Tuesday.

On April 14, Starbucks issued an official apology regarding the incident.

"We apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest. We take these matters seriously and clearly have more work to do when it comes to how we handle incidents in our stores,” the company said in a statement posted on Twitter.

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