Dunkin’ says free coffee offer to white Rhode Island residents was ‘unfortunate mistake’

A typo might be the cause of a recent controversy at a Dunkin’ in Rhode Island.

The Dunkin’ location was offering free coffee to residents, however, the Facebook post said it was only for “white” residents, WJAR reported.

Dunkin’ said in a statement to MassLive that the Facebook post was copied from a coffee giveaway in White Plains, New York but in the post employees replaced the word “Plains” with “Cranston” and never deleted the word “White.”

“Upon the typo being discovered, we immediately corrected the post,” Dunkin’ said in the statement.

The mistake, however, was still “embarrassing,” Kelsey Chester, a field marketing manager with Dunkin’, told the news outlet.

“It’s an unfortunate mistake. It’s an embarrassing mistake,” she said.

Some commenters on Facebook called for the location to be closed, ABC6 reported.

“White Cranston residents is extremely out of pocket, this store needs to be permanently closed for retraining,” wrote one commenter, according to the news station.

However, the store said the post was not made in malicious intent. And local customers, WJAR reported, agree.

“I would say that’s an error for sure. We come here every day. It was here that posted that? That would be definitely an error,” Arletta Ferreria, a Dunkin’ regular, told the news station.

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