Black men in Philadelphia arrest settle with Starbucks, city

02 May 2018 - 20:26 By Reuters
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Image: REUTERS/Mark Makela

Two black men arrested while waiting at a Philadelphia Starbucks store reached a settlement with the coffee chain and dropped legal claims against the city.

The city agreed to pay each man $1 and committed $200,000 to fund an entrepreneurship program for public school students.

Starbucks Corp on Wednesday announced its financial settlement with Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, whose arrests on April 12 sparked protests and calls for a boycott of the chain.

The company did not disclose the value of the settlement but said it would give details in a joint statement.

Robinson and Nelson were arrested after a manager called police to complain that they had not made a purchase and refused to leave. They were released hours later without being charged.

Starbucks plans to close 8,000 stores for a half day of anti-bias training on May 29.

"Starbucks will continue to take actions that stem from this incident to repair and reaffirm our values and vision for the kind of company we want to be," Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Kevin Johnson said in a statement. 


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