Complaint Filed Against Starbucks With Florida Commission On Human Relations Over Barista's Racist Remarks And Starbucks CEO Invited To Talk About Racism

Tampa, Florida, March 22, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Tampa based music producer and businessman Ronell Levatte, professionally known as “Big Gates,” filed a complaint last week with the Florida Commission on Human Relations over racist remarks made by a Starbucks barista in Wesley Chapel, Florida by the name of Dean Bui.  The filing is the first step in bringing a civil action against Starbucks and Mr. Bui in Federal Court.

The complaint centers on allegations of racist comments made by the Starbucks barista.  “Mr. Levatte, who is African American, has been a loyal customer of Starbucks for a number of years.  Unfortunately, Mr. Levatte can no longer enjoy visiting Starbucks because of the racist and discriminatory actions of one of Starbucks’ baristas,” said attorney Nathan Carney.  The barista, who is not African American, tweeted that Mr. Levatte was “#hoodasfuck” while Mr. Levatte was being served at Starbucks this past September.  The barista went on to make racist comments about the beverage Mr. Levatte used to order on a regular basis, a white mocha.  In reference to his store manager, the barista tweeted, “our manager is black so like it’s where all the ghetto happens I guess.”  Additional racist comments from the barista include:

“The thing I’m most excited about working at Starbucks is writing everyone’s name wrong.  I’d be like ‘Oh your name’s Lauren?  I thought you were too white to be Lafawnduh, my bad…”

“nigga bitches suck dick for free Starbucks.”

Mr. Bui tweeted a photo of an African American man behind a counter with the caption, “Excuse me.  Can I get a cup of coffee?  Black.”  The barista noted, “If someone does this when I’m working on Sunday I’ll happily give you free coffee whenever I work.”

The barista has used the “n-word” in his tweets on numerous occasions.  “Needless to say, Mr. Levatte has been embarrassed and humiliated by the racist, slanderous and defamatory actions of one of Starbucks’ employees.  We previously notified Starbucks of the repulsive way in which Mr. Levatte was treated, but Starbucks failed to take any action.  Instead, around that same time, Starbucks promoted the barista,” said Mr. Carney.

Mr. Levatte and his attorney were surprised to find out Starbucks’ CEO, Howard Schultz, was encouraging the company’s baristas to help improve race relations by discussing racism through Starbucks’ “Race Together” campaign.  Mr. Carney suggested to Starbucks’ legal team that Mr. Schultz should lead by example and he extended an invitation last week to Mr. Schultz to come to Tampa and meet with Mr. Levatte to talk about racism.  Starbucks has yet to reply to the invitation.