LOS ANGELES — The Starbucks employee who drew a pig on a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy’s coffee cup has been fired, the coffee chain confirmed — but the company claimed it was not meant to be offensive.
“This was unacceptable. We have reached out to the customer several times and to leaders in the Sheriff’s Department to apologize,” said Jaci Anderson, Starbucks’ director of global communications. “Every customer should always be made to feel welcome in our stores.”
The drawing — a meme commonly referred to as “John Pork” — was not intended for the deputy, Anderson said.
Anderson said the barista had been doodling on cups earlier in the day to cheer up coworkers, and that a “series of unfortunate events” led to the cup being handed to the deputy.
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The incident occurred at the Starbucks located at Firestone Boulevard and Pioneer Boulevard in Norwalk. Starbucks said the store and its employees are not represented by a union.
The sheriff’s department and the deputy union both slammed the incident as offensive.
Starbucks operates roughly 17,000 stores nationwide, with about 550 locations unionized — roughly 4% of its US footprint.
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