INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kevin Johnson hopes to meet with the two black men arrested at one of its Philadelphia cafes last week to apologise for the incident, which
has sparked accusations of racial profiling at the coffee chain.The men, who had not made a purchase, were handcuffed and arrested for
trespassing on Thursday after a store manager called 911 and reported them for refusing to leave
Witnesses said the men were calmly sitting in the cafe and in a widely viewed video, some patrons asked police whether they were targeted
because they are black.Police released the men, who were not charged."The circumstances surrounding the incident and the outcome in our
store on Thursday were reprehensible they were wrong," Johnson told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday, amid protests and calls for a
boycott on social media.The female manager who reported the men to police has left the company, a Starbucks representative said.The incident
came at a time when the company is grappling with flat traffic and lacklustre sales growth at its more than 14,000 U.S
It is a high-profile public relations test for Johnson, a former technology executive who took the helm at Starbucks roughly a year
ago.Johnson, who was interviewed from Philadelphia, said it was "completely inappropriate to engage the police." He added that Starbucks
would conduct training to prevent unconscious bias.Representatives for the two men could not immediately be reached.Protesters crowded the
store that was the scene of the arrest on Monday morning
It was closed at around midday
More protests and a news conference are expected in the afternoon.The Reverend Mark Tyler, part of an interfaith group organising a protest
on Monday afternoon, said he had not heard reports of similar issues at other area Starbucks
Thomson Reuters 2018(This story has not been edited by staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
