Shanell Rivers Facebook Post Hoax: Starbucks Says ‘White People VS Black People’ Facebook Screenshots Are Fake

A troubling screenshot of a Facebook post that was allegedly posted to the White People Vs Black People (The Original) closed Facebook group has been shared across social media, claiming to contain the writing of Shanell Rivers, a purported Starbucks employee. Shanell was supposedly a black Starbucks employee from Atlanta who wrote about doing bad things to the Starbucks products given to white people at her location, according to Heavy.

As seen in the screenshots from the Facebook group, which has nearly 55,000 members, Rivers wrote about working at Starbucks in Atlanta and performing heinous actions such as placing saliva in the coffee of a white woman and adding blood to the “strawberry jam of a white man’s bagel.” Viral screenshots of the alleged Facebook post purport to show Shanell bragging about bringing home an extra $94 due to overcharging the Starbucks customers who said they didn’t need a receipt.

However, Starbucks has responded to the alleged Facebook post from Shanell by writing that the Facebook screenshots being passed around are fake and that they do not have a Shanell Rivers working at any Starbucks locations.

This post is completely false. Starbucks does not have a partner (employee) by the name Shanell Rivers. We are working with local authorities to determine how these fake posts were created and circulated.

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) January 8, 2018

As seen in the above tweet from the official Starbucks Coffee Twitter account, Starbucks wrote that the source of the fake Facebook posts is being investigated by local authorities. Starbucks called the Facebook post false and one that was “created maliciously.”

Starbucks has been busy replying to folks on Twitter who spread the false story, repeating variations of the same answer that informs social media users that there is no Rivers “partner” or employee at Starbucks and that the “screenshots are fake.” Starbucks did offer notes of thanks to some Twitter users for informing them about the Facebook posts, as well as sending assurances that Starbucks customers needn’t worry about a “Shanell” doing bad things to their orders.

Meanwhile, those Starbucks customers who believe the post from Shanell was true wrote about hoping she would be fired. The fake Facebook posts from Rivers were circulated on Reddit and 4Chan, along with wording that hoped Shanell would get fired. However, that fake Facebook post has resulted in people turning to Twitter to post information about a woman with a name similar to Rivers’ name in the Atlanta area.

The profile photo shown in the screenshot contains an image of a black woman claiming to be Shanell Rivers, but it could have been taken from another source.