Just two weeks before Starbucks is set to shut down their stores nationwide for racial bias training, more accusations of racism are surfacing after a Latino customer discovered a racist slur written on his coffee cup.
It began at a Los Angeles-area Starbucks when a Latino man named Pedro ordered two coffees from the store and received his cold coffee drink with the name 'BEANER' written on both cups instead of his name according to NBC4.
The slur on his cup was no accident, Pedro said, because the barista called him by the correct name once the order was ready.
When he alerted management to the racist slur on his cup, he says Starbucks offered him a $50 gift card.
"I didn't accept it because it’s like an insult overall," he said.
Starbucks released a statement about the incident saying they apologized to the customers for the slur.
“This is not indicative of the type of experience we want our customers to have when they walk into our stores. We have apologized to the customer directly and are working to make things right.”
This isn't the first time the coffee chain has had to deal with accusations of racism. A cellphone video that went viral last month showed two black men at a Philadelphia location being arrested by police while they were waiting for a business associate to arrive. The two men quickly settled their case with the city over their arrest for $1, and the city agreed to establish a fund to help high school students who wish to become entrepreneurs.
Starbucks announced plans to close thousands of its stores nationwide on May 29th to conduct racial-bias training for all its employees.