Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said Tuesday he is “not aware” of company donations to Planned Parenthood.
WATCH:
Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece Alveda King wrote in a Washington Examiner op-ed, stating, “If Starbucks wants to end racism it will stop funding Planned Parenthood.”
Johnson responded to the claim, saying, “I’m not aware that we do fund Planned Parenthood.”
“I haven’t read the op-ed, and I can’t comment on that, but I’m not aware that we do that,” he continued.
In a statement later Tuesday, a Starbucks spokesman denied the company sponsors Planned Parenthood, saying it matches donations to the group if an employee chooses to donate, as it does with other non-profit organizations.
“Starbucks does not have a corporate relationship or sponsorship with Planned Parenthood,” the spokesman said. “Starbucks is listed as a donor of an organization because the Starbucks ‘Partner Match’ program provides matched cash awards for contributions made by Starbucks partners (employees). Every fiscal year, funds are available to each partner to request in support of personal financial donations or individual community service efforts. Most 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and most Registered Charities in Canada qualify to receive matching funds.”
King wrote:
But Starbucks had racism in its corporate identity long before the April arrests.
Through its corporate donations, Starbucks contributes to one of the most racist organizations in our nation’s history. Planned Parenthood, the largest single provider of abortions in the U.S., performs more than 300,000 terminations each year.
Planned Parenthood’s disdain for human dignity, especially in the African-American community, is deeply embedded in its 101-year history. The numbers do not lie.
Starbucks shut its stores down country-wide on Tuesday and required its workers to attend a racial bias training session following outrage over the arrests of two young black men in a Starbucks in April. (RELATED: Starbucks Is Shutting Down 8,000 Stores For The Day To Prove They’re Not Racist)
This story has been updated to include the statement from Starbucks.
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