CEDAR PARK, Texas — Starbucks said it will have to "reimagine" a Pride event at a Cedar Park location after the store received a number of threats, according to a report from KVUE's news partners at the Austin American-Statesman.
The "Coffee with the Queens" event, originally scheduled for June 24 at the Starbucks at 1335 E. Whitestone Boulevard, was meant to be a fun time with two local drag queens, The Beckies. But threatening messages raised safety concerns, leading Starbucks to cancel the event.
"Unfortunately, following the promotion of an upcoming event in our store, the store received a number of threatening messages that led the local team to raise concerns for the safety of our partners, customers and the performers involved," Starbucks said in a statement shared with the Statesman.
"This was directly following [the recent] violence in Cedar Park, which had the entire community concerned. Local leaders took a number of precautions, including attempting to bring in enhanced security, but ultimately decided that postponing the event was the best course of action," the statement read.
The violence Starbucks was referring to was the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Akira Ross at a Cedar Park gas station on June 2. The man who shot Ross had yelled a slur at her, according to police.
One of the drag queens who was scheduled to be a part of the event said some of the social media posts about it were "hateful and sad and scary," according to the Statesman's report.
Starbucks has said it will reschedule the event during Austin Pride in August.
To learn more, read the Statesman's full report.