MuellerDad69's Starbucks Hoax

Overview

MuellerDad69's Starbucks Hoax refers to a tweet by Twitter user @MuellerDad69 in which he stated he was a manager of a Starbucks and would fire employees who said "Merry Christmas" because he personally dislikes conservative Christians. Though the tweet was not true, it nevertheless baited some on Twitter into thinking it was real, causing Starbucks to clarify it was not true. It also was shared by Conservative congressman Steve King on Facebook as though it were true.

Background

On December 14th, 2019, Twitter user @MuellerDad69 tweeted, "I'm the manager of a Starbucks in Charlotte NC. I have informed my employees that they will be fired on the spot if I hear them say 'Merry Christmas' to any customers. I'm doing it because I personally dislike conservative Christians" (shown below). The tweet has been deleted as @MuellerDad69's account was suspended.

Developments

The tweet was picked up as sincere by several Twitter users who were outraged at the idea. Conservative celebrity Mindy Johnson tweeted^[1] "This sounds like religious discrimination to me," gaining over 1,500 retweets and 5,200 likes (shown below, left). User @GullScreaming tweeted,^[2] "So corporate Starbucks knows nothing of this. They are not protecting you. You are simply a liar" (shown below, right).

The response caused Starbucks^[3] to clarify that @MuellerDad69 was not an employee of the company (shown below, left). Conservative Iowa representative Steve King shared the tweet to his Facebook as though it were sincere^[4] (shown below, right). The hoax and King's sharing of it was covered by The Hill^[5] and Newsweek.^[6]

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References