--- title: Starbucks Apologizes for 'Diabetes Here I Come' Joke description: "Diabetes here I come" was written in the space for the customer's name canonical: https://time.com/4289829/starbucks-diabetes-here-i-come-apology/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-11T21:22:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:32.698Z og:title: Starbucks Apologizes for 'Diabetes Here I Come' Joke on Customer's Cup og:description: The message was written on a grande white mocha og:url: https://time.com/4289829/starbucks-diabetes-here-i-come-apology/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Starbucks Apologizes for 'Diabetes Here I Come' Joke on Customer's Cup twitter:description: The message was written on a grande white mocha twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Starbucks Apologizes for 'Diabetes Here I Come' Joke on Customer's Cup by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 11, 2016 9:22 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 11, 2016 9:22 PM UTC Starbucks has [issued an apology](http://mashable.com/2016/04/08/diabetes-here-i-come-starbucks/?utm%5Fcid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#rPzfxj4zFOqT) for a message written on one Florida customer’s grande white mocha cup, on which a barista reportedly replaced their name with “Diabetes here I come.” The customer, who was anonymously interviewed by local news outlet [Action News Jax](http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/man-gets-starbucks-cup-that-says-diabetes-here-i-come/202819360), said the joke was especially painful because he has two sisters who suffer from Type 1 diabetes. A Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement to Mashable that the company was working to directly apologize to the customer. “We strive to provide an inclusive and positive experience for our customers, and were disappointed to learn of this incident,” the statement says. “We are working directly with the customer to apologize for his experience, and with our partners (employees) to ensure this does not happen again.” > [](https://twitter.com/KaitlynANjax/status/718551388364652544) The man says that he did not order the drink himself, but that an employee at his company picks up coffee for him and his colleagues. He says he did return the cup himself, though, with a message handwritten on the side: “2 of my sisters are diabetic, so…not funny.” \[[Mashable](http://mashable.com/2016/04/08/diabetes-here-i-come-starbucks/?utm%5Fcid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#rPzfxj4zFOqT)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4289829/starbucks-diabetes-here-i-come-apology/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4289829/starbucks-diabetes-here-i-come-apology/"},"headline":"Starbucks Apologizes for 'Diabetes Here I Come' Joke on Customer's Cup","datePublished":"2016-04-11T21:22:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:32.698Z","description":"The message was written on a grande white mocha","url":"https://time.com/4289829/starbucks-diabetes-here-i-come-apology/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4289829/starbucks-diabetes-here-i-come-apology/","name":"Starbucks Apologizes for 'Diabetes Here I Come' Joke on Customer's Cup"}}]}] ```