Thandie Newton criticized Starbucks over a display at one of the coffee chain's London stores that featured a black figure dressed in a loin cloth and safari hat holding a basket of Columbian coffee beans, according to Fox News.
Newton took to Twitter on Monday to share a photo of the offensive statue captioned, "Seriously @Starbucks? At the counter - Loin cloth and Safari hat on a black child. Happy New Year circa 19th century."
Starbucks immediately issued an apology to Newton over the counter display in a reply to the actress on the micro-blogging platform and said that it was "very concerned" to find out about the statue and couldn't be more apologetic about the same, according to The Huffington Post.
"Serving as a welcoming place for everyone is core to who we are as a company. As we became aware of the offense, we immediately removed the figure from our store," a spokesperson of the company said, according to Entertainment Tonight.
"We aim to provide an inclusive environment for all customers and communities in which we serve, and we are working with our partners (employees) to avoid similar incidents from happening in the future. We apologize for the offense caused," the spokesperson added.
Seriously @Starbucks? At the counter - Loin cloth and Safari hat on a black child. Happy New Year circa 19th century pic.twitter.com/kD3qgKmti1
— Thandie Newton (@thandienewton) January 4, 2016
@thandienewton we are very concerned to learn of this incident & we can’t apologise enough. We have removed the figure & are investigating. — Starbucks Help (@starbuckshelp) January 5, 2016
