Starbucks drops Jewish group from anti-bias training session: report

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) will no longer work on Starbucks’s anti-bias training sessions next month after the company faced backlash from activists, the company told Politico on Monday.

Jaime Riley, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, told the news outlet that the ADL, which works to combat anti-Semitism in the U.S., will be a part of the company’s extended anti-discrimination efforts. But the group will not play a role in developing the training on May 29.

Starbucks committed to closing most of its stores for an anti-bias training one day after a viral video showed two black men being arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a friend without purchasing anything. The ADL was originally part of the team tasked with developing the curriculum for Starbucks’s training.

{mosads}Activists criticized Starbucks for involving the ADL, citing the organization’s support for Israel and failure to endorse the Black Lives Matter movement. The group announced in 2016 that it would not fully endorse the movement over some leaders’ “anti-Israel — and at times anti-Semitic — positions.”

Tamika Mallory, an organizer of the Women’s March, posted on Twitter that the ADL is “constantly attacking black and brown people,” and criticized Starbucks as “tone deaf” for involving the group.

Mallory came under fire earlier this year for attending an event where Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan made anti-Semitic remarks. Those remarks drew widespread criticism, including from the ADL.

Black Lives Matter D.C., meanwhile, accused the ADL of being “ultra pro-cop.”

Starbucks said in an April 24 press release that the ADL would be consulted on “longer-term changes,” but did not name the group or its leaders in the section on the May 29 training.

Riley, the Starbucks spokeswoman, denied to Politico that the company dropped the ADL because of the pressure.

“When Starbucks asked for assistance, we agreed to help,” ADL spokesman Todd Gutnick told Politico. “As to whether Starbucks may or may not now want to utilize our expertise, you should ask them.”

— Updated on May 1.