Starbucks is in hot water after launching a new campaign that encourages baristas to talk about race relations with customers.
Critics have been lashing out at the company on social media, saying Starbucks is trying to capitalise on racial tension in the US.
Following the backlash, Starbucks’ senior vice president of communications Corey DuBrowa appears to have deleted his Twitter account, which has only added to critics’ outrage.
#Starbucks‘s @coreydu wanted to talk about race so much he deleted his account after people started talking to him about it. #RaceTogether
— Brianna Leigh (@raininblack) March 17, 2015
@coreydu went from this to this in less time than a Scandal episode. Y’all the real Olivia Pope. pic.twitter.com/Qv6M3T7z3K
— TotesEvilTimesGuise (@KashannKilson) March 17, 2015
Wow so @coreydu or Corey duBrowa of #Starbucks deleted his account on here and deleted our comments about #RaceTogether on IG.
— barb❤️ (@ohitsbarbara) March 17, 2015
The senior vice president of @Starbucks global communications, Corey duBrowa, deleted his twitter to avoid talking about race #RaceTogether
— Chris Edwards (@HeyChrisEdwards) March 17, 2015
Twitter users claim that they were blocked by DuBrowa before his Twitter account went inactive.
So @coreydu wants to have a talk about race, but keeps blocking POC who ask uncomfortable questions. Will you treat your baristas this way?
— Miss Anne Dri (@OHTheMaryD) March 17, 2015
@coreydu so are you unblocking/blocking people who are actually engaging you on a conversation abt race? How #racetogether is a stupid idea?
— kid krage (@krageinsf) March 17, 2015
But #RaceTogether y’all lol RT @ImYourDM: That was quick. How many people with questions is @coreydu gonna block? pic.twitter.com/Njo1cpFpo9
— Pusha C# Ph.D. (@grisuy) March 17, 2015
We reached out to Starbucks for comment on the deleted account and we will update when we hear back.
Here’s a cached version of DuBrowa’s Twitter account.
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