Podcast host Ben Ferguson accused the Black Lives Matter organization of operating like a “Ponzi scheme” after a former Starbucks manager was awarded $25.6 million in a lawsuit claiming that she was fired for being White. Shannon Phillips was terminated in 2018 in response to a national backlash over the arrest of two Black men at a Philadelphia location. Ferguson said Starbucks likely views the payout as “money well spent,” since the firing helped quell the anger of BLM and other activists.
BEN FERGUSON: Black Lives Matter made money and was able to buy pools and houses and massive trips and throw parties. Look, they took a play from Jesse Jackson, right? You go to a corporation back in the day and you say, ‘if you’re not with us, we’re going to come after you.’ And Black Lives Matter owned every sporting event, every end zone, every jersey. … This was one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history. I think it did a lot of damage, by the way, for race relations.
Think about it from Starbucks’ standpoint. They probably think the $25 million they got to give her is a pretty good investment because they didn’t want backlash. … They just needed somebody to say to BLM and the movement and the activists and the people with the cell phones, ‘here’s your person. We did good by you. Are you happy?’ … They probably think this 25 million was a great investment. If you go back to when this happened, that was money well spent by them. And that’s my worry, is they’re going to keep doing this again.
A New Jersey federal jury decided in favor of Phillips, who sued Starbucks in 2019 over allegations of racial bias and discrimination.
It took the eight-member panel nearly five hours to award $25 million in punitive damages and $600,000 in compensatory damages to Phillips, determining that her skin color played a decisive role in her termination.
Phillips, who worked for Starbucks for 13 years and oversaw roughly 100 cafes, was fired less than a month after Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson were arrested at a Spruce Street store on April 12, 2018, for refusing to leave a table.
The incident, captured on cellphone video, quickly went viral and Starbucks faced intense scrutiny for the treatment of the Black men, who said they were waiting for a business associate and hadn’t ordered anything when a manager called the Philadelphia police on them. Phillips was not present.
To quell the racial firestorm, the chain apologized and closed 8,000 U.S. stores early for racial bias training.
Fox News’ Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.
