• Celebrity News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

February 16, 2025

Hip-Hop Legend Ralph McDaniels Celebrating 66th Birthday With NYC Concert

'Expect a full show of the best of New York Hip-Hop,' promises McDaniels.

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A celebration is about to take place for a legendary hip-hop purveyor in New York City: Video Music Box’s Ralph McDaniels. For his 66th birthday, he will curate a birthday concert in Brooklyn.

The concert will take place on Feb. 27 at Brooklyn Bowl. The Video Music Box Experience will feature special guests from the halls of hip-hop who will be on hand to help celebrate the industry’s first hip-hop video host. The concert will have many surprise guests, but BLACK ENTERPRISE can exclusively reveal that there will be performances by DJ Scratch, Grand Puba (Brand Nubian), Smif-N-Wessun, and other hip-hop legends.

During the evening, audience members can view iconic hip-hop videos played throughout the night, including clips produced by the man affectionately known as “Uncle Ralph.” McDaniels also told BE that those in attendance can “expect a full show of the best of New York hip-hop.”

The event, one of the many he has done over the years, promises to be a special one.

“This birthday is special because I am curating the whole event, from the music to the food and drinks,” said McDaniels.

The event is in conjunction with Late Development Entertainment Company, and the CEO, Elijah Wells, told BE, “The event is about celebrating Ralph McDaniels during his birthday. Ralph has traditionally had incredible birthday parties that became concerts. I wanted to continue the tradition this year with a big birthday/concert at the Brooklyn Bowl. The show will feature classic Hip-Hop artists and DJs bringing back the golden era of Hip-Hop.”

If you are in the New York City area, you can purchase tickets at the Brooklyn Bowl website.

In 1983, as budding entrepreneurs, McDaniels and his former partner, Lionel C. Martin, launched a show that aimed to bring music videos to an audience with limited options. Their show, Video Music Box, paved the way for rap video programming, arriving before shows like Yo! MTV Raps! The duo set up shop in Manhattan and landed at WNYC-TV, where they aired music videos every weekday. Hip-hop videos weren’t the cultural staple they are today, and only a handful were being aired, but the ones that were found a home on Video Music Box.

Video Music Box premiered in 1983 and is celebrating 42 years on air. It is the longest-running syndicated music show and continues to introduce new artists to the world.

RELATED CONTENT: Mustard On Mustard? Music Producer And DJ Partners With Heinz

• Business

by Mary Spiller

February 16, 2025

Tapped Into Tradition: Black-Owned Chicago Brewery Fundraising To Open New Location

The owner of Funkytown Brewery described the move as an effort to become more integrated into Chicago culture and rooted in a community they have served since 2021.

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A Chicago Black-owned business called Funkytown Brewery is fundraising to open a new taproom on the West Side. The first-time entrepreneurs have been consistently growing in the craft beer industry, but CEO Rich Broomfield is now hoping to expand beyond just distribution.

An endeavor that took off during Black History Month, the Funkytown Brewery is pushing to finally open a taproom of its own.

Broomfield described the upcoming change as an effort to become more integrated into Chicago culture and rooted in a community they have served since 2021.

Broomfield, also co-founder of Funkytown, told ABC 7 Chicago, “So, we’ve been on the market since October 2021, growing rapidly. We got into the United Center, Soldier Field, Guaranteed Rate, Wrigley Field, Whole Foods, Jewel, Binny’s, and Mariano’s. We expanded to Wisconsin, expanded into northern Indiana.”

As of now, Funkytown operates solely by distributing its crafted beer to bars and grocery stores, but with the recent move to revitalize the West Side of Chicago, Funkytown hopes to open a brick-and-mortar taproom near the United Center.

Broomfield spoke on the decision to go for a location in the Center.

“United Center doesn’t have the most fun let out,” Broomfield stated. “We need those third spaces. Those are where the conversations happen. And like, we’re just here to take our own space, our own niche, and view on hospitality and bring a product that everybody’s familiar with.”

The Funkytown Brewery has been campaigning and fundraising for three months so far, asking for help from both big investors and community-based organizations to hopefully raise $5 million to buy a new West Side building.

Although Broomfield has no shortage of aspirations, the Brewery has faced struggles regarding receiving funding.

The Federal Reserve previously reported that Black business owners are more likely to receive less funding and be denied loans in comparison to their similarly situated white counterparts.

Broomfield recalled, “We’re first-time entrepreneurs. We started this business with $3,500 in our business account.”
“That’s not, it’s not realistic. There’s no rich uncle or aunt that’s going to get it started with $50 or $100K. You just kind of have to bootstrap it yourself,” Broomfield added.

“Think about it, if we actually had some funds behind us this whole time. Funkytown would be a household name.”

The Funkytown Brewery not only wants to expand its business, but it also wants to be a part of a change that makes craft beers available to underserved groups that typically would not have access to the resources or business opportunities.

Broomfield explained, “We want to make sure that we’re accessible by public transit and by the underserved groups that don’t have craft breweries in their neighborhoods. You got to be intentional if you want to reach people, and that’s what we’re going to do, intentional in our outreach.”

Once Funkytown opens its new location, Broomfield plans to hire more staff for the West Side location.

RELATED CONTENT: Black-Owned Brewery Set To Open in Chicago Neighborhood

• News

by Daniel Johnson

February 15, 2025

Making America Less Safe? Trump Officials Scrambling After Firing Nuclear Weapons Staff

The Trump administration is now looking to rescind the layoffs of individuals responsible for overseeing the nation's nuclear weapons.

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After Trump administration officials fired over 300 staffers at the National Nuclear Security Administration on Feb. 13, they realized that some of the people they fired were responsible for securing the nation’s supply of nuclear weapons and started to rescind some of those firings by Valentine’s Day.

According to CNN, four people with knowledge of the matter said that the firings came as part of a broader wave of layoffs at the Department of Energy and that the officials who fired these workers, despite the administration’s name, did not know the agency is responsible for overseeing the United States of America’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

According to one of the sources, individuals, including staff who are on the ground at facilities where nuclear weapons are built and employees at the NNSA headquarters who write requirements and guidelines for contractors who build nuclear weapons, were fired because “no one has taken any time to understand what we do and the importance of our work to the nation’s national security.”

Another source told CNN that Congress is upset about this, and rightfully so, the NNSA is a backbone to the nation’s network of national security protocols.

“Congress is freaking out because it appears DOE (Department of Energy) didn’t really realize NNSA oversees the nuclear stockpile. The nuclear deterrent is the backbone of American security and stability –- period. For there to be any even very small holes poked even in the maintenance of that deterrent should be extremely frightening to people,” the source said.

According to NPR, the firings resulted from Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s slash-and-burn approach to curbing federal spending, which was in accordance with the wishes of Donald Trump and the Trump administration.

According to their reporting, an employee at the NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency, informed NPR that despite the critical function performed by the agency, it was not immune to the cuts instituted and directed by Musk and company, who gave the managers 200 characters to describe why the jobs under their purview mattered.

The testimony of one of the NNSA’s workers is at odds with DOGE’s determination that the NNSA provides some kind of undue burden on the federal government’s budget.

The anonymous worker, who stayed anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the Trump administration, told NPR that the firings have been “paused. ” They then said that their work is high-pressure and highly specialized and that they are underpaid for it. Citing what they had experienced in the past 24 hours, they asked, “Why would anybody want to take these jobs?”

RELATED CONTENT: Rep. Maxwell Frost Slams Trump’s DOGE: ‘It’s A Joke’

• News

by Mary Spiller

February 15, 2025

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Warned By Border Czar Tom Homan: I’ll Be ‘Up His Butt’ If Immigration Crackdown Fails

Eric Adams has agreed to allow immigration officials to operate freely in Rikers Island jail.

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Controversial New York City Mayor Eric Adams met with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on Feb. 13. The meeting occurred just hours after several high-powered Justice Department employees resigned after the federal government ordered them to drop the corruption charges against Adams.

The mayor is facing a criminal corruption case but is also under pressure from the Trump administration. After the meeting, Adams agreed to allow federal immigration officials to operate and enter the New York Rikers Island jail.

Homan explained in a meeting the next day on “Fox and Friends,” “I came to New York City, and I wasn’t going to leave with nothing.”

According to NBC, Adams attended the meeting with Homan.

In his interview with Fox, Homan stated that there would be consequences if Adams didn’t honor his agreement to allow immigration agents to operate freely in Rikers Island.

Homan colorfully stated. “If he doesn’t come through. I’ll be back in New York City, and we won’t be sitting on the couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?'”

The Homan meeting came at a time of great turmoil around Adams. Six top federal prosecutors and officials in New York and Washington, including the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle R. Sassoon, resigned after they were ordered to drop the federal charges against Adams. The charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and receiving campaign contributions from foreign nationals.

The order to drop the charges came from Trump’s acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove. He demanded that Sassoon dismiss the charges against Adams as they were reportedly “interfering” with his ability to help the Trump administration handle immigrants in New York.

Adams, who was elected mayor in 2021 after being a New York police captain, was accused of accepting over $100,000 worth of free plane tickets, luxury hotel stays, and goods from Turkish nationals over a decade.

Although Adams pleaded not guilty and claimed that the charges were part of a political agenda, many called for his resignation.

Adams, however, revealed on “Fox and Friends” that he’s planning on running for re-election.

Sassoon wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi explaining her reason for resigning. She claimed that she couldn’t in good conscience argue for a judge to drop the charges against Adams, as she felt the evidence against him was extensive.

Sassoon wrote, “Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case.”

RELATED CONTENT: New York City Mayor Eric Adams Proposes His Administration To Oversee Rikers Island Jails

• Politics

by Daniel Johnson

February 15, 2025

NY AG Letitia James Slaps Trump Admin And Elon Musk With Lawsuit Over Alleged Treasury Data Breach

James and 11 attorneys general say Trump lacks authority to control spending via DOGE.

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On Valentine’s Day, New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong continued arguing that Elon Musk and his cronies at the Department of Government Efficiency are behind the largest data breach in U.S. history.

According to CBS News, over a dozen states have joined a lawsuit challenging DOGE and the Trump administration’s authority to access sensitive Treasury Department records, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and biometric information.

“We’re talking about Social Security numbers, we’re talking about banking information, we’re talking about addresses, biometric information. We stand together to stop Elon Musk and his army of tech bro-wannabe stormtroopers from tearing up the Treasury Department,” Tong said at a news conference ahead of their court appearance.

In a joint statement shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE, James and 11 other attorneys general argued that Trump has no legal or Constitutional authority to control spending through DOGE or any other apparatus.

“Last week, Elon Musk and his team got into our nation’s central payment system in the Treasury Department, giving them unauthorized access to the Social Security numbers, bank account information, and other private data of tens of millions of Americans,” reads the statement.

The statement continued, “To protect our states’ residents, we filed a lawsuit to stop the madness. Just a few hours later, we won a court order blocking Musk and DOGE from accessing Americans’ personal information and ordering the destruction of all the copies of records they had obtained.”

The statement concluded, “Elon Musk may be the richest man in the world, but the law is clear: he has no authority to access your private information. The Constitution gives Congress –- not the President –- primary control over federal spending.”

In the legal proceedings, the Justice Department argued that DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department is not unlawful.

“There’s nothing unlawful about the Treasury carrying out the priorities of a new administration using special government employees,” the Justice Department’s lawyers argued in response to the 19 attorneys generals’ argument that Musk’s group had no lawful reason to access the sensitive information of United States citizens.

According to The New York Times, although the judge presiding over the case has not yet issued a ruling, she did extend an earlier order restricting Musk and DOGE’s access to Treasury Department systems.

An official ruling in the matter is not likely to be issued for months, and the attorneys generals’ suit is one of dozens challenging the authority of the Trump administration to issue sweeping changes largely through executive orders in the month he has been in power.

According to Yesha Yadav, a law professor and associate dean at Vanderbilt University, the heart of the legal dispute is “the nerve center of our payment systems. ” The importance of these systems “cannot be overstated,” Yadav said.

Yadav continued, “We’ve never imagined the U.S. government being in potential default in these kinds of domestic obligations. This is about as precious of a data source that we have.”

For that reason, Jacob Leibenluft, who formerly held senior positions at the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget under President Biden, told the outlet that these systems require those within them to “operate with extreme care.”

Leibenluft concluded his comments with a grave analysis of the danger posed by Musk and his team. “I think there are many reasons to doubt that this particular team is doing so.”

RELATED CONTENT: New York AG Letitia James Wins Ruling To Block Musk’s DOGE From Accessing Sensitive Data Of Millions Of Americans

• Sports

by Mary Spiller

February 15, 2025

Fighting Champ Claressa Shields Claps Back At Boxing Reporter Who Accused Her Of Failing Drug Test

Shields claimed that she's going to sue Rick Glaser for his unsupported failed drug test allegations.

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Famed boxer Claressa Shields slammed boxing reporter Rick Glaser on Feb. 13 after he reported she allegedly failed a PED (performance-enhancing drug) test.

Glaser took to X and wrote in a post, “Claressa Shields has reputedly failed a drug test for her most recent fight, rumored to be a PED test. #Boxing.”

Shields is now threatening legal action against Glaser.

The PED test post shocked many of Shields’ fans. She has made history as the only fighter ever to be an undisputed champion in three different divisions in the four-belt era. ESPN currently has her set as the world’s best active female boxer.

Shields responded to Glaser’s PED allegations. She posted on X, “NICE TRY HATERS. DON’T Ever try and put no bulls*** on me. CLEAN ATHLETES WIN.’”

She added, “Yeah @RickGlaser you getting sued buddy.”

Glaser’s controversial post was also refuted by Victor Conte — founder of BALCO Laboratories and well-known sports nutritionist. Conte made a post on X on Feb. 13 that read, “IMPORTANT NOTICE TO BOXING: @ClaressaShields did not test positive for a PED after her recent fight in Michigan. Claressa had not smoked marijuana. However, the commission did a mouth swab test after the fight. There seem to be a number of issues that exist with the Michigan testing procedure. Urine is the normal sample used to test for marijuana. Most credible anti-doping entities do not consider marijuana to be a PED.”

He clarified that Shields didn’t test positive for PEDs but rather for a very trace amount of marijuana that likely came from second-hand arena smoke.

Conte continued to affirm, “VADA found no PEDs in Claressa’s blood and urine samples. The Nevada Commission, the UFC, and other commissions do not consider marijuana a PED. The amount found in her mouth swab was 3.4 ng/ml or parts per billion. This is an ultra-trace amount that likely would have come from second-hand smoke in the arena. Other irregularities occurred in the testing procedure. The world of boxing needs to clearly understand that Claressa is a clean boxer and always has been. More information about this rather unusual case will become available soon.”

RELATED CONTENT: Boxer Claressa Shields First Undisputed Women’s Heavyweight Champ

• Technology

by Daniel Johnson

February 15, 2025

Google Calendar Users Noticed The Disappearance Of Black History Month, They Weren’t Happy

Although the tech giant removed the holidays from its calendar app, it will still track them via Google Doodles and other products.

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During the week of Feb. 7, some users of Google’s Google Calendar service began noticing that the application no longer displayed observances of Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and other special observances that it formerly observed in its calendar.

According to The New York Times, this, along with the company’s decision to go along with the ethnonationalism whims of the Trump administration and label the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and the elimination of its diversity workforce goals from its website, seemed to signal to some that Google was abandoning its liberal viewpoints to embrace an ultra-conservative regime.

However, according to Madison Cushman Veld, a spokeswoman for the technology giant, Google’s decision to remove the observations happened last year and is more concerned with logistics than ideology.

According to Veld, Google concluded that manually maintaining hundreds of observations annually for different countries “wasn’t scalable or sustainable.”

However, Google’s explanation still seemed fishy to some, given that it had worked with timeanddate.com, a website displaying major celebrations around the world, to populate its calendar with public holidays and national observances like President’s Day and Labor Day.

Veld said that the additional dates the company was asked to mark were too many for them to accommodate. In addition to the two aforementioned observances, the days that are now unobserved include Hispanic Heritage Month, Pride Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing -– and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable. So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments,” Veld said in a statement.

In an update to its company blog posted on Feb. 12, following the considerable backlash from users, Google omitted the comments from Veld that indicated acknowledging global holidays wasn’t sustainable and instead sought to promote the service’s flexibility.

“Some important things to note: Showing public holidays and national observances, rather than a broader set of moments, is consistent with other major online calendar providers. Google Calendar is also customizable, so users can more easily add important moments to their calendar. As a company, we continue to celebrate and promote a variety of cultural moments across our products, visible to people everywhere — as you saw in the last few weeks with Black History Month and Lunar New Year,” the company wrote on its blog.

Although the technology giant removed the holidays from its calendar app, it will still track them via Google Doodles and other products, as the company alluded to in its blog post.

According to a post on the company’s blog highlighting Black History Month, YouTube Music, YouTube, Google Play, Google Arts & Culture, Google TV, and Chrome’s Black Artists Series would all be used by the company to celebrate Black History Month.

However, if you want to see Black History Month on your Google Calendar app, you’ll have to add it yourself.

RELATED CONTENT: Following Google, Apple Updates Its Map To ‘Gulf Of America’

• Politics

by Daniel Johnson

February 15, 2025

Education Secretary Pick Linda McMahon Refuses To Say If Black History Will Be Taught Under Trump Administration

At her confirmation hearing, which was disrupted by protestors half a dozen times, McMahon promoted Trump's anti-DEI stance.

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On Feb. 13, members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee grilled Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick to lead and subsequently dismantle the Department of Education, on her positions regarding school choice, students with disabilities, discrimination on the basis of sex, teacher pay, and how she wants to cut costs.

According to The 19th News, although she acknowledged that it would officially take an act of Congress to shutter the department, she nonetheless confirmed that she is willing to follow Trump’s plan for the department. She framed her plan to the senators as returning control of education to individual states, a position that has never actually been in jeopardy.

The Department of Education’s future has only grown murkier after the Department of Government Efficiency, the unofficial department led by Elon Musk, which Trump has given permission to cut whatever is deemed “wasteful,” cut approximately $900 million from the department’s research arm, the Institute of Research Sciences.

DOGE also canceled 89 of the Department of Education’s contracts and 29 grants, including grants and contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, a target of the Trump administration.

At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, which was disrupted by protestors half a dozen times, McMahon promoted the official line of her boss regarding DEI, telling the senators, “[DEI] is a program that’s tough. It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity, for equity and inclusion. And I think what we’re seeing is, it is having an opposite effect. We are getting back to more segregating of our schools instead of having more inclusion in our schools.”

According to NPR, Chris Murphy (D-Conn) pointed out that due to the Trump administration’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities, schools managed by the Department of Defense had already canceled their programming for Black History Month.

He also asked the prospective leader of the Department of Education if a public school would lose federal funding for allowing students to form extracurricular clubs based on race or ethnicity. McMahon’s answer was noncommittal.

“I certainly today don’t want to address, you know, hypothetical situations,” McMahon answered. Confirmation hearings are largely concerned with such hypothetical situations, so Murphy continued his line of questioning.

“That’s pretty chilling. My son is in a public school. He takes a class called African American History. If you’re running an African American history class, could you perhaps be in violation of this executive order?” Murphy asked McMahon.

Again, she dodged his question. “I’m not quite certain. And I’d like to look into it further and get back to you on that,” McMahon responded.

In an op-ed for MSNBC, Ja’han Jones argues that Linda McMahon’s background in professional wrestling—an industry long criticized for perpetuating racist and sexist stereotypes—makes her an ideal choice for Trump to push his vision for the Department of Education to an extreme. Jones suggests that McMahon would work to dismantle the department, which provides protections for historically marginalized groups, including women, ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities.

RELATED CONTENT: Trump Administration Cancels Federal Grant That Promotes Student Diversity

• Legal

by Mary Spiller

February 15, 2025

Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Jay-Z And Diddy Dropped By Jane Doe

The now-dismissed lawsuit accused Jay-Z and Diddy of raping and drugging Jane Doe when she was 13 years old.

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The Jane Doe who filed a civil lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jay-Z, claiming the two men sexually assaulted her 25 years ago, has dropped her lawsuit against them. The notice of voluntary dismissal was received on Feb. 14, and it was specifically done “with prejudice,” barring the lawsuit from ever being re-filed in the future.

Jane Doe’s court filing read, “Counsel of Plaintiff has discussed this matter with counsel for each Defendant, who acknowledge and consent to this submission.”

Shawn Carter, more widely known as Jay-Z, expressed relief about the development through his lawyer, Alex Spiro.

“The false case against Jay-Z, that never should have been brought, has been dismissed with prejudice,” Jay-Z’s attorney said in a statement. “By standing up in the face of heinous and false allegations, Jay has done what few can –- he pushed back, he never settled, he never paid one red penny, he triumphed and cleared his name.”

Jane Doe originally filed her lawsuit against Combs in October 2024, alleging that she was drugged and raped by the 55-year-old record executive. She stated that another celebrity was involved in the incident, which took place at an afterparty for the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. She was just 13 at the time of the alleged assault.

Doe later amended the complaint and added Jay-Z as a defendant.

Since being named, Jay-Z has maintained his innocence against the lawsuit allegations and even encouraged Doe to file a criminal complaint instead of a civil one because “[these are] so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one.”

However, before Doe dismissed her lawsuit, Jay-Z and his legal team made several attempts to get the case thrown out by the courts, calling Doe’s recollection of the rape inconsistent and inappropriately “relentless filing [a series] of combative motions,” according to the judge.

According to CNN, Combs’ attorney insisted that Doe dropping her lawsuit indicated that other allegations against Combs were also false.

His legal team said, “This is another confirmation that these lawsuits are built on falsehoods, not facts…[in] case after case filed by individuals hiding behind anonymity.”

Despite the Jane Doe lawsuit being dismissed, Combs is still facing over 40 separate sexual assault lawsuits and has been arrested and indicted on a long list of federal criminal charges that include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges and alleged again on Feb. 14 that he has “never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor.” He has been in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY, since September 2024, awaiting trial.

RELATED CONTENT: Jay-Z’s Attorney Cites Loophole In Hopes of Getting Assault Lawsuit Thrown Out

• News

by Sharelle B. McNair

February 15, 2025

Republican AG Sues Starbucks Over DEI Hiring Policies Resulting In ‘More Female and Less White’ Employees

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Missouri’s Republican attorney general Andrew Bailey is accusing coffee conglomerate Starbucks of operating on DEI race-and-sex-based hiring practices, resulting in “more female and less white” employees in a new federal lawsuit, The Hill reported. 

Filed on Feb. 11, Bailey claims Starbucks violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws that unlawfully segregated employees and provided specific training benefits to select groups, pushing the narrative that the company prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. 

Citing data between 2020 and 2024, Bailey accused the coffee chain of using quotas to iron out its workforce and board of directors, arguing such policies place other employees at a disadvantage. “With Starbucks’ discriminatory patterns, practices, and policies, Missouri’s consumers are required to pay higher prices and wait longer for goods and services that could be provided for less had Starbucks employed the most qualified workers, regardless of their race, color, sex, or national origin,” Bailey said. 

The suit also listed a memo from 2021 revealing the company set and tracked annual inclusion and diversity goals, striving for approximately 30% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) representation at the corporate level and 40% on the retail and manufacturing side by 2025. 

Bailey’s suit comes after weeks of backlash following President Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI programs at the federal level, which resulted in a number of Fortune 500 companies dialing back on their own initiatives. In addition to the order, the 47th president directed U.S. attorney generals to “encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.”

Despite pending litigation, the coffee brand has pledged to create mentorship programs for BIPOC employees as well as provide training for advancement opportunities for those groups. However, the Missouri AG feels the Seattle-based company’s initiatives should be looked at as a violation of anti-discrimination laws, alluding they give preferential treatment to specific racial or ethnic groups over others. “Starbucks’ policies harm the many Missourians who work, or would like to work, at Starbucks but have been, are being, or will be discriminated against as future victims on the basis of their race, sex, or inclusion in other protected groups,” the complaint alleges, according to CBS News. 

But Starbucks disagrees. In a responding statement, the company said it stands committed to providing opportunities for all employees. “We disagree with the attorney general, and these allegations are inaccurate. We are deeply committed to creating opportunities for every single one of our partners (employees). Our programs and benefits are open to everyone and lawful,” the statement read. 

“Our hiring practices are inclusive, fair, and competitive and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job every time.”

RELATED CONTENT: Mellody Hobson Exits Starbucks After 20 Years Of Leadership