This year’s holiday Starbucks cups are stirring up controversy among celebrities, pastors and anyone else in-between.

Starbucks recently released its holiday cup design, which features a “two-toned ombré design, with a bright poppy color on top that shades into a darker cranberry,” according to its website.

It is a very simple design that does not favor one holiday (Christmas) over the rest (Hanukah, Kwanza, etc).

Some Christians are offended by the holiday cup, claiming that Starbucks has turned anti-Christmas. Former pastor Joshua Feuerstein, now a social media personality, posted a video on Facebook of his reaction to the cups. In the video, he claimed that Starbucks “hates Jesus.”

Yes, you read that correctly. He posted a video complaining about a cup.

In the video, Feuerstein urges others to tell the barista their name is “Merry Christmas” so they will be tricked and have to write the phrase on the cups. Shortly after, the hashtag, #MerryChristmasStarbucks was born.

First of all, it is literally a red cup. How are people offended by this? Secondly, attacking the baristas is the most ignorant thing you could possibly do. I can almost guarantee that your barista had no say on the design of this year’s holiday cup.

Sure, a snowflake may be cuter than a red ombré cup, but since when does a snowflake symbolize Christmas?

Not long after the hashtag went viral, a new one emerged, blatantly calling out the stupidity. The hashtag #ItsJustACup spread like wildfire. Some social media users started naming issues more important than the cup, like world hunger, while others questioned why some have been basing faith off of the disposable cup.

A tweet from social media user Shawn Beaty read, “A Christian SHOULD be the least offended person you know. It is called being full of grace. #ItsJustACup Matt 5:38-42.”

As more time passed, celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres weighed in on the topic.

“The old cups had snowflakes and Santa’s sleigh and elves. You know, all the things you find in the Bible,” DeGeneres said on her daytime talk show.

It is not like Starbucks is suddenly anti-Christmas. It still sells the Christmas blend coffee and advent calendars found on its website. If people who were upset over the cup would have dug a little deeper into the history of Starbucks, they would have found the advent calendar and the Christmas blend coffee.

Starbucks made the cup blank this year in hopes of urging people from different backgrounds to share their story, and decorate their cup as they please, according to its website.

This is a great idea, even if the cup is a little boring this year. Who knew that a simple red cup could be such a bold statement?

How could people be so offended over a disposable cup? If it bothers you that bad, stop going to Starbucks. I think it will survive. And, maybe there will be less of a line to deal with when I want a quick coffee fix.

Vice President of Starbucks Jeffrey Fields explained to the public that Starbucks wanted a design this year that would welcome “all of our stories,” according to CNN.

So, if you go to Starbucks and get one of the red cups, design it yourself. Doodle your little heart out. Draw Jesus. Draw a menorah. Draw Santa and his reindeer. Make it your own creation.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. They are not directly the opinions of The Slate, its staff or Shippensburg University as a whole. Concerns or letters to the editor can be sent to shipspeaks@gmail.com.

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