CEO of Starbucks offers to apologise face-to-face as outrage grows over arrest of two black men

The two men were arrested allegedly after trying to use the bathroom without ordering anything
Twitter/MelissaDePino
Eleanor Rose16 April 2018

The CEO of Starbucks wants to apologise face-to-face to two black men who were arrested in a Philadelphia branch of the coffee chain.

Officials said the incident began when the two men, who have not been named, sat down in Starbucks and tried to use the toilets without buying anything.

When asked to leave, they declined, so staff called police complaining of "trespass and disturbance" and officers came and arrested them.

Footage taken by stunned customers shows one white bystander, named in the New York Times as Andrew Yaffe, saying: "This is ridiculous. What did they get called for?

"What did they do? What did they do?"

A woman says in the background: "They didn't do anything, I saw the entire thing."

The video has been viewed nearly 10 million times since it was posted on Twitter by Melissa DePino with the caption: "The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything.

"They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing.

"All the other white people are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing."

Starbucks apologised on Twitter and released a statement by CEO Kevin Johnson, who said he was sorry for the "reprehensible outcome".

"The video shot by customers is very hard to watch and the actions in it are not representative of our Starbucks mission and values," he wrote, adding that "the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong".

He added: "Most importantly, I hope to meet personally with the two men who were arrested to offer a face-to-face apology."

The incident spurred protests outside the Starbucks branch and drew widespread criticism on Twitter, where one woman wrote: "When is it a crime to wait for someone to show up before you order?"

Another wrote: "I go in Starbucks all the time and go straight to bathroom without ordering anything and without asking permission. Never been a problem - but I’m white."

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