Starbucks, which has touted its progressive values and its “social impact” agenda, faces fierce criticism and calls for a boycott after two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store, sparking accusations of racial profiling over what the company’s chief executive called a “reprehensible” incident.In a statement, CEO Kevin Johnson offered “our deepest apologies” to the two men on Saturday, who were taken out of the store in handcuffs by at least six officers. A store manager had asked the two men to leave after they asked to use the bathroom but had not made any purchases, police said. The men declined to leave and said they were waiting for a friend, their attorney later said. The manager then called 911 for assistance, the company said.The confrontation was captured on a video viewed more than 8 million times on social media, fuelling the backlash, which drew responses from Philadelphia’s mayor, the city’s police commissioner and now the chief executive of the biggest coffee house chain in the world.Johnson vowed an investigation and a review of its customer relations protocols, and he said he wanted to meet the two men for a face-to-face apology.“Creating an environment that is both safe and welcoming for everyone is paramount for every store. Regretfully, our practices and training led to a bad outcome — the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong,” Johnson said. “Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did.”The two men were taken to a police station, where they were fingerprinted and photographed, their attorney Lauren Wimmer told the Washington Post on Saturday. Her clients, who declined to be identified, were released eight hours later because of lack of evidence of a crime, she said, adding that the Starbucks manager was white.The incident is a dramatic turn for a company that ...
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