By Lindsey Weedston

Copyright dailydot

What started as a fan’s attempt to order Charlie Kirk’s favorite Starbucks drink turned into a culture-war flashpoint. A TikTok showing a barista refusing to write Kirk’s name on a cup quickly spread across conservative circles, sparking calls to “cancel” Starbucks.

The company clarified that customers are allowed to use Kirk’s name but discouraged political stunts. That’s when President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani jumped in, amplifying the controversy and declaring the ability to write Kirk’s name on a Starbucks cup a victory worth celebrating.

How Charlie Kirk’s favorite Starbucks order became a political stunt

Following Charlie Kirk’s shooting death last week, fans looked for ways to honor his memory. Conservatives have long held various beefs with Starbucks, but Kirk was apparently a regular customer. His favorite order was reportedly the Mint Majesty Tea with two honeys.

On Sunday, a Kirk supporter launched a Change.org petition asking Starbucks to make this an official menu item. Meanwhile, grieving fans started to order the drink under his name.

Two days later, TikToker @valerielewis292 posted a video showing a Starbucks barista saying that she can’t use the name of the late pundit for her order because it’s “political.”

“We can’t do political names, but it didn’t even ask for a name to begin with, so it’s going to be $3.75, okay?” said the young worker.

@valerielewis292 Today my husband walked into this Starbucks to order Charlie Kirk’s drink, when they asked for his name he said “Charlie Kirk” she said, “pick another name” he asked why? she said “we don’t do politics here” my husband didn’t mention anything political, it was Charlie Kirk’s name. She refused to write the name or say it. The barista walked over to my husband and handed him the drinks instead of using the name “Charlie” She is the one who brought up “politics” if she would have said “okay’ then written the name, no politics would have been mentioned. I went in a few hours later…. here’s the video 📷 #iamcharliekirk #prayforus🙏 #turningpointusa🇺🇸 @The Charlie Kirk Show @Turning Point USA ♬ original sound – Val_is_here!🌸

“Can you write the name on the cup?” Valerie asked.

“The sticker won’t print,” said the barista.

The TikToker continued to push for her to write the name out, at which point the barista offered to write “Charlie.” This wasn’t good enough, and when the worker stood her ground, Valerie canceled the order and left. She claimed she filmed this encounter after her husband experienced something similar.

As the video and right-wing outrage spread, Starbucks responded with a statement.

“There are no restrictions on customers using Charlie Kirk’s name on their order, and we are following up with our team,” they said.

The next day, they clarified that political stunts or attempts to get baristas to say sex words had resulted in a policy instructing these workers to “respectfully ask the customer to use a different name.” They denied that their system blocked computers from printing certain names.

Rudy Giuliani weighs in

On Wednesday, former New York Mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani retweeted his nearly three-hour video on Kirk’s suspected killer with Starbucks’ statement.

“UPDATE: STARBUCKS EMPLOYEES MUST WRITE CHARLIE KIRK’S NAME,” he wrote.

The updated statement says that “names, on their own, can be used by customers on their café order, as they wish.” It also states that they have “clear policies that prohibit political slogans or negative messages to help preserve a welcoming environment.”

It’s unclear what the company might do if a name became a political slogan—for instance, if one political group decided to make a man’s name on a coffee cup a political statement in and of itself.

Giuliani’s post on X soon reached the left, who reiterated that this kind of stunt is exactly why they started calling the other side “weird.”

“This has always been one of the weirder things abt Conservative politics. What’s the tangible gain here?” asked @jazz_liker. “‘Buhhh I put the barista in a somewhat awkward position by acting like an antisocial freak, please clap.’”

“The weirdest thing about all this is the fact it’s being done by people who are pro-Kirk as a tribute – sounds to me like something you’d do if you were taking the piss,” wrote @PeckingOrder03.

Others pointed out that there may, in fact, be bigger issues than Starbucks cup names in America at this time.

“Hey, cool, but my family can’t afford groceries,” @mtskullcrusher pointed out.

“There’s bigger problems we need to face as a country and y’all are up and arms about writing a f***ing name on a cup?” said @HtxSinCity. “What a complete joke.”

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