Starbucks remains in hot water this week as multiple controversies pile on top of each other.
In the wake of protests over two black men who were unfairly arrested while waiting in line at a Philadelphia location, video surfaced from a California Starbucks store that showed employees denying a black man to use the bathroom and later calling the police on him.
Now, police have launched an investigation after a 25-year-old customer reportedly found a camera inside a restroom at an Atlanta Starbucks location. According to a police report, the camera was taped to a baby changing station and had 25 videos stored on it. The woman who found the camera reportedly handed it over to a Starbucks manager, who said he would alert the corporate office until the customer convinced him to call 911 instead.
A police officer told Atlanta's local FOX 5 station, "We've learned that the device had about an hours worth of recorded video on it and detectives found 8 to 10 men and women videotaped while in that restroom." The officer added, "A lot of it was men using the urinal so they were from the back but there were a few images of women using the toilet, but nothing was clear enough to identify a private area. We do know none of the victims were children."
A Starbucks representative emailed a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that said, "We were quite concerned to learn this and are grateful to our customers and partners who took action to involve local authorities. We will continue to support them in any way we can."
This latest incident comes as the coffee chain was in the middle of damage control for the arrest controversy. The company announced that they would be closing 8,000 stores on May 29 to provide 175,000 employees with racial bias training.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson shared an official statement last week that said, "I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it. While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution. Closing our stores for racial bias training is just one step in a journey that requires dedication from every level of our company and partnerships in our local communities."
