Black woman claims that Starbucks barista wrote 'Monkey' on her drink, prompting the employee's suspension: 'My heart just drops'

• A Black woman says a barista at a Maryland Starbucks wrote "monkey" on her cup.
• The company said the word was written "mistakenly."

A Black woman in Maryland told Today.com that a barista wrote "monkey" on her frappuccino order.

Monique Pugh's Annapolis Starbucks run started like any other, she told Today.

"The lady at the register asked my name and I told her, and that was it," Pugh told the outlet. But when her order was ready, she said a barista read the order out loud, rather than saying the name written on the cup.

"I can see from a distance, a barista picks up (my) drink and she looks at it weird, says 'venti caramel Frap' and backed away," Pugh said.

When she picked up the cup, the word "monkey," an anti-Black slur, was written on the cup.

"My heart just drops," she says. "It was one of those in-the-moment things where your heart just drops and you're just like, 'What?'"

Pugh said she approached one of the baristas, not the one who took her initial order, about her drink and was met with a hostile attitude. On top of the word being written on her cup, she claimed that her drink order was also incorrect.

"He and I were going back and forth about whether the drink was made correctly, and then I had to stop myself and realized 'monkey' was written on my cup," she said.

"Why am I the only Black person in the store and 'monkey' is written on my cup?" Pugh questioned, according to the outlet.

Pugh added that the incident and response were "so triggering."

"Customers were looking at me and I was just embarrassed," she added.

The location, a licensed Starbucks store licensed by Impeccable Brands, responded to Pugh.

In an email from Impeccable Brands, shared with Today, a representative told Pugh that the company had conducted an investigation and found that the barista "mistakenly" labeled the cup with the word "monkey."

"Regardless, I understand the hurt and frustration this has caused you," the representative wrote. "We can do better. As an immediate step, I have taken action with the employee and have addressed their behavior with them directly."

The representative said the incident will prompt a couple of changes, including barring the word "monkey" from being used on drink tickets and more employee training, Today added. The outlet reported that the employee that took down Pugh's order was suspended. Impeccable Brands has also committed to a third-party review of the incident.

"With these steps in place, I feel confident that we will do better and offer the warm and welcoming experience that you and all other customers expect from any of our locations in the future," the representative from Impeccable Brands continued. "While I know none of this will be able to take away the hurt you may have felt that day and the days following, I hope that our actions show that we take this very seriously and value what you have shared."

Pugh doesn't think the response and changes go far enough.

"And to have them apologize, but then say it was an honest mistake and a labeling error? How was that a labeling error?" she asks. "I was the only Black person in the store. And I bring it to your attention and your first thought is to argue with me?"

Starbucks is aware of the incident, a spokesperson told Insider via email, and has reached out to Pugh to apologize and learn more from the event.

The company is also working with the leadership from Impeccable Brands, which licenses the Starbucks location in Annapolis, to address the issue, saying that regardless of whether the store is a licensee or owned and operated by Starbucks it wants all customers to feel respected and has zero-tolerance for actions that make customers feel unwelcome.

Correction: December 2, 2022 — This story has been updated throughout to clarify that this incident took place at a licensed Starbucks location and to clarify the responses from the licensee and Starbucks. The incident did not take place at a Starbucks-owned and operated store but at a store licensed by Impeccable Brands, which sent the follow-up email to Pugh.