Starbucks Fires Barista After Epic Satire Song Goes Viral

A Starbucks barista in Chowchilla, California, now finds himself unemployed after a satirical song he wrote and performed went viral. The former employee, Chris Christwell, appears in a spoof video wearing only a Starbucks smock (and underwear).

Below, watch the video that landed the young man in hot water (caution: language):

As you'll see in the clip, Christwell strummed on his acoustic guitar, while singing about Starbucks customers, the fat content in the company's foods and the drinking habits of specific ethnic groups.

In the video, Christwell also lets out some curse words, while making some charges (though they may simply be jokes) about how Starbucks employees treat customer orders. Consumerist has more:

Chris Christwell sings that if you order a grande dip and the coffee's out, baristas may just pour it from the decaf spout. "And I just came up short/on your vanilla bean," he sings, "I'll just inject it with some whip/because it can't be seen."

Although the ex-barista admits he knew that making the video would be a risk, he says he wanted to blow off some steam after a hard day's work. Starbucks corporate, of course, decided to let him go after the video came to staff members' attention.

And it's no wonder they noticed the song -- right now, Christwell's video performance has been viewed nearly 783,000 times. Starbucks maintains that Christwell's comments about the company and its customers were "unacceptable." In a statement, the company said:

"while Christopher was expressing his own views in the video, the disparaging remarks about our customers and company are unacceptable and out of line with our commitment to providing a respectful Starbucks experience ..."

Below, watch a CNN report that recaps the entire debacle:

And here's another report from KSFN-TV:

In a follow-up video, Christwell explains that he understands why Starbucks fired him. In the subsequent clip, he also attempts to set the record straight about his work ethic, claiming that he is "a people pleaser" who truly enjoyed his customers.

Of course, he followed-up on these words with yet another song (how fitting). This time, he delved even deeper into ethnic patterns of drink choices. Watch it here:

While Christwell finds himself unemployed, Consumerist notes that his song is for sale on iTunes and that a t-shirt shop has launched. Could this, perhaps, be the start of a new career for the controversial crooner?

(H/T: Consumerist)