April 12th: Two African Americans men were arrested in a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia for seemingly nothing. After asking to use the restroom inside of the store, and being refused since they hadn't bought anything, the two men sat down to relax and wait for a friend. A Starbucks employee accused them of trespassing and called the police after telling them to leave three times. After police arrive, a third (white) man, Andrew Yaffe, shows up and starts to question the arrest, referring to the episode as ridiculous.
April 14th: Shortly after, The company gave an apology via Twitter and Starbucks C.E.O., Kevin Johnson, released a statements saying that the video taken by a third party [of the arrest] was "hard to watch."
April 16th: It was reported that the employee who had called the police on these men, no longer works there.
April 17th: The company has also released an announcement that they will be closing down all of their stores, nationwide, for implicit bias training.
April 18th: Starbucks C.E.O appeared on CBS this morning for an interview with Gayle King where he speaks about the appalling video of the arrest. He also admits that racial bias incidents may not be limited to the Philidelphia store.
The two men were released after the incident and the district attorney didn't charge them, seeing as there was no incriminating evidence to do so.
