Georgia Starbucks Temporarily Closes After Hoaxer Claims She Added Bodily Fluids To Orders
A Starbucks in Brookhaven, Georgia, temporarily closed after a post describing an employee's vile acts toward white customers went viral on social media. The problem? The post was a hoax — Starbucks insists that the employee doesn't even exist.
In a screengrab of a Facebook post circulating on Twitter, a woman claiming to be a Starbucks barista boasted that she had defiled the food and beverages of white customers who patronized the Atlanta-area store.
The allegations include spitting in a macchiato, mixing blood with strawberry jam on a bagel, and adding ground dog feces into a child's hot chocolate. The woman, "Shanell Rivers," also wrote that she'd cleaned a table with a bathroom rag and boasted of stealing $94 from customers who declined to ask for their receipts.
Photos of the post — which was submitted to the closed group "White People Vs Black People" — began circulating via Twitter on January 7, and people began contacting the health department and police urging action.
@Cityofatlanta Please have your Health Department find the Atlanta @Starbucks which employs Shanell Rivers. She is putting feces and blood into people's food and drinks! pic.twitter.com/8QCwiAFyYO
— Donna Gab MAGA (@donnagailgab) January 7, 2018
A spokesperson for Starbucks told The Daily Meal that the post is completely false, that they don't have an employee by the name Shanell Rivers, and that they're working with local authorities to further investigate the matter.
The coffee giant reiterated the same assertions in a tweet.
This post is completely false and created maliciously. Starbucks does not have a partner (employee) by the name Shanell Rivers. We are working with local authorities to determine how this fake post was created and circulated.
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) January 8, 2018
Nonetheless, the Brookhaven shop received some threatening calls and decided to close two hours early the same day Rivers' post began circulating on social media, according to The Washington Post. The store has since reopened.
To read about actual icky ingredients in food — say, wood and bugs — here are some gross things you didn't know you were eating.