Starbucks says customers can ask for political names on drinks after a viral video of a barista declining to write the name Charlie Kirk on a cup

"Starbucks says that customers can ask for political names on their drinks following a viral video in which a barista declined to write the name of assassinated conservative Charlie Kirk on a customer's cup. Eight baristas told Business Insider that before the corporate clarification, they felt trapped between corporate policy, social media infamy, and, in some cases, their own personal beliefs when customers requested politically loaded names on their to-go cups."

""We aim to be a community coffeehouse where everyone feels welcome, so we have previously provided guidance to our partners to respectfully ask the customer to use a different name when attempting to use political slogans or phrases in place of their name," Starbucks said in a statement published Wednesday. "We are clarifying with our team now that names, on their own, can be used by customers on their café order, as they wish."

Starbucks permits customers to use fake names on orders, including political names, while prohibiting baristas from writing political messages or pop culture references on cups. A viral TikTok showed a barista decline to write "Charlie Kirk" on a customer's Mint Majesty tea, citing a corporate policy against political messages and offering to write "Charlie" instead. Eight baristas said they felt trapped between corporate policy, social media infamy, and their own personal beliefs when customers requested politically loaded names. Starbucks said partners were previously guided to respectfully ask customers to use a different name when slogans replaced names and is clarifying that names alone can be used.

Read at Business Insider