Breaking down claim Starbucks baristas can’t write ‘Charlie Kirk’ on cups

In September 2025, after the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during a speaking engagement at a Utah university, a claim circulated online that baristas at the coffee chain Starbucks would not print or write Kirk’s name on cups or labels.

Starbucks baristas have written customers’ names on their cups either by hand or by printing it on a label since 2012, according to the company.

The claim circulated after TikTok user @valerielewis292 uploaded a video (archived) purportedly showing a barista in California refusing to print a label with Kirk’s name on it or to write his full name on a cup. Overlaid text in the clip read: “Starbucks refused to write or say Charlie Kirk’s name.”

Another social media user reposted (archived) the video on X, where it had amassed more than 9 million views as of this writing. The caption read, in part: “The Starbucks employee CONFIRMS their system has been programmed to ban the name Charlie Kirk (WOW).”

Versions of the claim and video also appeared on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and Threads (archived).

The footage appeared to be authentic, meaning it did not appear to be the product of artificial intelligence. Additionally, a Starbucks store matching the address written in the video’s overlaid text did appear when searched for on Google Maps.

According to TikTok user @valerielewis292, both she and her husband (archived) asked to have “Charlie Kirk” written on their drinks but baristas refused them both. In one of the videos on @valerielewis292’s account, a barista repeatedly said they could not write Kirk’s name on the cup because they “can’t do political names.” The barista also said “the sticker won’t print,” referring to a label that is stuck to the side of Starbucks cups that lists drink ingredients and other information.

However, on Sept. 16, after the claim began circulating on social media, Starbucks released a statement that read: “There are no restrictions on customers using Charlie Kirk’s name on their order, and we are following up with our team.” That statement did not say whether this was due to a recent change in policy or whether the company had policies that banned any particular names other than Kirk’s on customers’ cups.

A day later, Starbucks released a lengthier statement that said most customers use their own names when ordering, but “when a customer wants to use a different name — including the name Charlie Kirk — when ordering their drink in our café, we aim to respect their preference.” The statement continued:

Over the years, we have had instances where some people have tried to abuse the system. For example, they’ve provided something that isn’t a name at all, but rather a political slogan with the aim of having our barista shout it out as they hand off the finished drink. And in some cases, as their “name,” they have provided words that are sexually explicit or otherwise offensive. 

The statement went on to say the company has previously instructed employees “to respectfully ask the customer to use a different name when attempting to use political slogans or phrases” and that its point-of-sale system does block certain explicit words and phrases.

We contacted Starbucks to ask if it had policies that banned particular names from customers’ cups and, if so, whether these had recently changed to exclude Kirk’s name. We also reached out to @valerielewis292 on TikTok to ask whether she had contacted Starbucks about the incident in the footage and, if so, what the company’s response was. We await replies to our queries.

The interaction between the TikTok user and the barista at Starbucks in Yuciapa, California, went as follows after the customer asked for a Mint Majesty tea with two honeys: 

BARISTA: What was the name for the order? Or, actually, it doesn’t even need a name.

@VALERIELEWIS292: The name is Charlie Kirk.

B: We can’t do political names but it didn’t even ask for a name to begin with so it’s going to be $3.75, OK?

V: [unintelligible] Can you write the name on the cup? 

B: The sticker won’t print.

V: Oh. You can’t write on that? 

B: I could, but I could write Charlie? 

V: Why can’t you write the whole name? 

B: Because it’s political. 

V: Political? 

B: Yes, yeah, let me start your tea for you, OK? And it’s going to be $3.75 today.

V: You know what, forget it, I don’t want it.

Turning Point USA, the conservative nonprofit Kirk founded, uploaded a YouTube video on July 27, 2025, showing him saying (archived) that his Starbucks order of choice was a Mint Majesty tea with two honeys and that he drank “like nine of them a day” to ensure he would not lose his voice.

Although Starbucks’ Sept. 16 statement said the company did not place “restrictions” on the use of Kirk’s name, the BBC reported that it did previously restrict the use of the names of South Korean presidential candidates ahead of the country’s election on June 3, 2025. 

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol reportedly announced on a quarterly earnings call in October 2024 that its baristas would return to handwriting names and messages on customers’ cups. It was unclear if this change also introduced or modified policies about what baristas could and could not write.

Snopes has previously fact-checked various claims about Starbucks, including whether the coffee chain has secret locations in tunnels under Los Angeles and whether it lost more than $1 billion after boycotts related to its alleged support for Israel.