In a now-deleted video, a transgender barista mixed a deadly concoction he labeled the “Blue Lives Matter” drink, declaring that he wants “more dead cops.” Now, Starbucks and Target have come forward with their statements regarding the issue.
In a now-deleted TikTok video, a barista at a Starbucks in an Indianapolis Target gleefully gave a tutorial on how to create a “Blue Lives Matter” drink, The Police Tribune reports. The transgender employee, who goes by the name of Van Greyson Hart, recorded his lethal cocktail with the caption “All I want for Christmas is more dead cops.”
More law enforcement officers are finding that the restaurants they patronize are becoming hostile toward their profession. The media are filled with reports of both uniformed and plainclothes officers being turned away or, worse, served tainted food and drinks as part of a growing trend in discrimination against LEOs.
Disturbingly, the increasingly anti-law enforcement atmosphere has emboldened food workers to not only refuse service to the police but some are willing to endanger the lives of those they see as inherently racist and violent.
Hart begins the tutorial by holding up a plastic Starbucks cup with the words “Blue Lives Matter” written in black marker along the side. He then pours bleach into the cup, which is the first of several ingredients to complete the deadly drink.
“Hi, guys. I updated my recipe for the ‘Blue Lives Matter’ drinks,” Hart tells his audience. “First, we’re gonna start with bleach..all the way to the third line. Then, we’re gonna add ice because, you know, cops love ice.”
https://youtu.be/ITkkRthIBdA
The video jumps to Hart holding an open packet of a red, coagulated substance resembling ketchup before dumping it into the blender. Lastly, he adds a packet of powder that turns the drink bright blue.
“We add more bleach, a little blood of innocent black men, and then we add this special blue ingredient that Starbucks has. We do have it and, yes, we are holding out on you,” Hart says. “Even though it has a strawless lid, we’re going to serve it with a straw because, you know, they only think about themselves,” he concludes.
Hart was identified in another TikTok video, in which he allegedly made another toxic mixture meant to be served to “Karen,” a popular slang term referring to an annoying and entitled woman. Bleach and broken glass were added to the drink before the creator can be heard saying, “And there you have it — the ‘All Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter/White Is a Color Too Frappuccino’.”
Soon after the video went viral, Starbucks and Target issued statements denouncing Hart’s behavior and confirming that he was immediately fired.
“This video is appalling and unacceptable. We don’t tolerate this behavior at Target, want all guests to be treated with respect, and are terminating the team member who is responsible. We also have rigorous food safety procedures in place, which this team member egregiously violated with this behavior. We’re deeply sorry for this disturbing video, which TikTok has removed based on the platform’s guidelines,” Target said in a statement.
“We have zero tolerance for any violence and are thankful that Target terminated this employee immediately for this appalling act,” Starbucks replied on Twitter.
Hart appeared unphased by his termination and later made a Facebook post listing police officer deaths in the line of duty and captioned the post “4 cops were good cops,” referring to those who had killed fellow officers via unintentional gunfire.
Hart is remorseless for his actions and continues to spread propaganda suggesting that all police officers are inherently evil and murderous. Of course, his finding humor in food workers poisoning law enforcement is a disturbing reality for many officers.
Fortunately, Hart isn’t touching the drinks of police officers or anyone else at the moment. However, his intellectually lazy generalization of an entire group of people solely based on their choice of profession is still rampant and contributing to the dangers that LEOs already face on a daily basis.
