Starbucks Closes After Fake, Racially Loaded Post Goes Viral

BROOKHAVEN, GA — A Starbucks in metro Atlanta was closed briefly after fake, racially loaded rumors about an employee spitting in and otherwise defiling white people's drinks and food started spreading online.

In a profane Facebook post, someone claiming to be a black Starbucks employee named Shanell Rivers told stories of spitting in a white woman's coffee, putting dog feces in a child's hot chocolate and mixing blood into the jam for a white customer's bagel.

In the post, which first appeared in a Facebook group called "White People Vs Black People (The Original)," the writer also claims to have overcharged white customers and licked the bread for a father and son's sandwiches.

Over the weekend, the post began to spread on social media. One Twitter account with nearly 20,000 followers passed it along on Sunday. That post was retweeted 626 times.

Starbucks says the post "is completely false and was created maliciously." The company has never had an employee named Shanell Rivers and is "working with local authorities to determine how these fake posts were created and circulated," Starbucks said in message to people sharing the story on Twitter.

One message from Starbucks said that an image, supposedly of Rivers, appears to have been taken from photo website Getty Images. The account from which the post was shared did not appear to still exist on Tuesday.

Somewhere along the way, the story became associated with the Starbucks in Brookhaven. The coffee shop, on Peachtree Road, closed down two hours early Sunday after threatening phone calls began pouring in, a spokesperson told the Washington Post.

Brookhaven Police spokesman Maj. Brandon Gurley said the department has increased patrols in the area. He also confirmed that police are investigating how the fake story spread.

Starbucks thanked customers for their concern. "These posts (one of which uses a stock photo that was pulled from Getty Images) are completely false and created maliciously. Starbucks does not have a partner (employee) by the name Shanell Rivers," the company said on social media.

Photo courtesy Starbucks.