This afternoon, Starbucks is set to close down more than 8,000 stores across the United States for unconscious racial bias training. Megyn Kelly has some concerns.
During a panel discussion on her NBC morning show Megyn Kelly Today, the former Fox News host sounded the alarm about a new policy that will allow anyone to use the restroom at Starbucks whether or not they make a purchase. The move comes after a barista at a Philadelphia called the police on two black men who were sitting at a table and waiting for a friend. The cops ended up escorting them out of the shop in handcuffs.
“They’re allowing anyone to stay and use the bathroom even if they don’t buy anything, which has a lot of Starbucks customers saying, ‘Really?'” Kelly said on Tuesday. “Because now the Starbucks are going to get overwhelmed with people and is it really just a public space or is it not?”
ADVERTISEMENT
While Kelly, who once insisted that Santa Claus “just is white,” went on to say that she doesn’t find anything “controversial” about the anti-bias training, she could not get over the fact that now anyone will be allowed to sit in a Starbucks or use the restroom without making a purchase.
“Starbucks may become a magnet for people who want to exploit and take advantage of this new policy,” concurred Amy Holmes, a PBS host and former contributor to Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze.
On the other side of the debate was NBC’s Jenna Bush Hager, who argued that “some of these people don’t have places to go.” When Holmes pushed back, she said, “Of course it’s not a solution, but it’s also compassionate, it’s also showing kindness to people who may not have that.”
But Kelly wasn’t having it. “Do you really want to deal with a mass of homeless people, or whoever’s in there, could be drug-addicted, you don’t know,” she responded before pivoting to a point that would have been right at home on her old Fox News show.
Noting that the rapper Common will appear in a series of videos for Starbucks employees during today’s training, Kelly informed viewers that he has been “accused of homophobic lyrics” and has referred to women as “hoes, bitches and sluts” in songs.
“What about the female customers?” she asked. “Because I have to say, I don’t know that this is the best person to instruct on bias.” Harkening back to her Fox News days, Kelly recalled the “controversy” that ensued when the Obamas invited Common to perform at the White House.
It’s almost as if Kelly momentarily forgot what network she was on.
