Starbucks employee reportedly fired over hateful message on Charlie Kirk drink order

An employee at a Starbucks in Middletown, Ohio, has reportedly been fired after she wrote an objectionable message on a customer who ordered conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s drink.

Autumn Perkins, an Ohio resident, revealed on her social media page that a barista at Starbucks inside Kroger wrote “racists fav drink” on her cup.

Posting an image of the cup with the message, Perkins wrote on Facebook that she ordered Kirk’s famous Starbucks order,  ‘Mint Majesty tea with two honey,’ which became popular after the podcaster’s died after being shot while addressing students at Utah Valley University in Orem on September 10.

Perkins wrote:

“The girl at Starbucks thought she was cute. I don’t even support Starbucks bc of everything they stand for starting with their satanic logo, but I support Charlie Kirk so I thought you know what…I’ll get his drink. Thank you Starbucks for proving to me exactly why I prefer to support my small local Christian owned and operated coffee shop. Well done. This was at the Startbucks inside of Kroger on Towne Blvd in Middletown OH”

According to The New York Post, the manager of the outlet confirmed to Perkins that an employee confessed that she had written the message on her cup, and was fired.

The outlet noted that Perkins expressed agreement with how the employee was held accountable, and said,

“I would agree that people should be fired if they’re doing something like this…actions have repercussions.”

Starbucks and Kroger, both addressed the incident and confirmed that the concerned employee was fired

While communicating with Fox News Digital, Starbucks addressed the fact that their former employee broke their policy about writing messages on cups and stated,

“Writing this on a cup is unacceptable, and we have clear policies that prohibit negative messages to help preserve a welcoming environment. This Starbucks location is licensed and operated by Kroger. We understand that this associate was terminated by Kroger.”

The New York Post noted that Kroger also confirmed that their employee who wrote the hateful message on Autumn Perkins’ cup was fired.

A representative from Kroger also cautioned,

“This behavior does not reflect Kroger’s values.”

Perkins herself acknowledged that Charlie Kirk’s opinions were often polarizing. But while emphasizing the importance of mutual respect, she said to Fox News Digital,

“I feel like Charlie stood for respect — we don't have to agree on everything. We can disagree on a lot of things, but we respect each other…We can't communicate and grow if we're disrespecting each other.”

In wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, his Starbucks order has emerged as a contentious issue

Charlie Kirk’s famous Starbucks order of ‘Mint Majesty tea with two honey,’ which was ordered by his supporters in hordes after his death, became viral when a video depicted a barista refusing to write his full name on the cup for a customer due to its political nature, as per Pensacola News Journal.

As per the news outlet, some instances where netizens alleged that baristas wrote negative messages in relation to Charlie Kirk also went viral.

Before the Autumn Perkins’ incident, Starbucks released a statement in which it clarified that the instances caught on video in which it was alleged that its baristas wrote negative messages, were false.

After reviewing its in-store footage, the company found that the messages were written by other people after the drinks had been given to the customers.

While Starbucks previously instructed its employees to use another name while using politically charged phrases, it now lifted restrictions on using Charlie Kirk’s name for drinks orders, according to Pensacola News Journal.