News & Politics

Was That TikTok’s CEO at a DC Starbucks?

Shou Zi Chew appears to have chatted with customers at a downtown coffee shop Monday.

Photographs courtesy Julia Shannon-Grillo.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appears to have stopped at the Starbucks at 13th and F streets, Northwest, on Monday afternoon. Julia Shannon-Grillo, a graduate student in Columbia University’s investigative journalism program, was in town with fellow students to report on the inauguration, which Chew attended.

TikTok hasn’t responded to a request for comment, but Shannon-Grillo says the person in question took photos with workers at the shop after a person behind the counter recognized him, and then spoke with customers. Shannon-Grillo and her colleagues attempted to ask him about TikTok’s ban in the US, but he wouldn’t answer. One of the man’s security guards, she says, laughed and told them “no comment.” He stuck around for about ten minutes, drinking coffee and chatting with customers before exiting. His drink, Shannon-Grillo says, was not iced.

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Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.