Starbucks Apologizes To Star Thandie Newton
Starbucks apologized to star Thandie Newton after the actress tweeted a seemingly chastising comment about a statue of a black child in a loin cloth spotted on a counter. On New Year’s Eve, Newton went into a London Starbucks for a cup of coffee and saw the statue holding a basket of Colombian coffee beans on display and was offended by its appearance.
Thandie Newton almost immediately received a tweeted apology from Starbucks about the black child statue, Fox News reports. The mega coffee chain is no stranger to controversy and only recently finished dealing with backlash over its chosen Christmas cup design and “bleeding” polar bear cookies.
Seriously @Starbucks? At the counter – Loin cloth and Safari hat on a black child. Happy New Year circa 19th century pic.twitter.com/kD3qgKmti1
— Thandie Newton (@thandienewton) January 4, 2016
The Starbucks apology tweet stated that the company couldn’t express its regret over the incident enough and is “very concerned” about the black child statue display at the London restaurant. The statue has now reportedly been removed from the location. It is not currently known if the statue appeared at any other stores or was approved by either the restaurant manager or other company official.
Starbucks apologized in an official statement released by a company representative, MSN reports.
“Serving as a welcoming place for everyone is core to who we are as a company. As we became aware of the offense, we immediately removed the figure from our store. We aim to provide an inclusive environment for all customers and communities in which we serve, and we are working with our partners (employees) to avoid similar incidents from happening in the future. We apologize for the offense caused.”
The Thandie Newton Starbucks complaint comes on the heels of equally irritated tweets by Second Amendment advocates angry over policies which prohibited concealed carry of firearms in stores. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the Race Together campaign initiated by the store after Black Lives Matter protests sprang up in cities around the country, met with opposition as well. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had baristas write #RaceTogether on coffee cups to urge customers to talk about race relations.
According to IMDb, Thandie Newton lived in Zambia until her parents chose to relocate to the United Kingdom because of ongoing unrest in the country. Her mother, Nyasha, was a “black Zimbabwean mother,” and her father, Nick Newton, was a white Briton. Newton started to audition for acting roles after being forced to stop studying dance after a back injury. Her first acting job was in the movie Flirting in 1991.
When it appeared that having a British accent was limiting her ability to get work, she moved back to the United Kingdom from Los Angeles and enrolled at the Cambridge University. While earning an anthropology degree, she kept practicing her craft and took acting rolls on her semester breaks.
Thandie Newton gets apology from Starbucks over statue of black child in loin cloth https://t.co/KCsoyVlSqk pic.twitter.com/vcrlFkEnND
— RT America (@RT_America) January 8, 2016
Tribute states that Thandie Newton’s breakout performance was in Interview with a Vampire in 1994. Later that same year, she was part of an ensemble cast in the film, Loaded. In 1995, she starred with Jason Patric in The Journey of August King. She married screenwriter and director Oliver Parker in 1998. The couple met while working on a BBC television drama. Her next two major film roles were Besieged and Beloved, which also starred Oprah Winfrey.
Newton joined the cast of hit television series, ER in 2003. She starred opposite Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happiness three years later. Thandie was then cast in the a movie based upon a Tony Award-winning play, For Colored Girls.
What do you think about the Thandie Newton Starbucks apology?
[Image via AP Photo/Mike Stewart]
