Jerry Quits Ben & Jerry’s Over Unilever ‘Censorship’

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, quit the company this week as the ice cream brand escalated requests to be sold off from parent Unilever/Magnum Ice Cream Co., which B&J has accused of censoring its social mission.

“After 47 years, Jerry has made the difficult decision to step down from the company we built together,” co-founder Ben Cohen wrote on his X (Twitter) account. “I’m sharing his words as he resigns from Ben & Jerry’s. His legacy deserves to be true to our values, not silenced by @MagnumGlobal.”

We asked Ben & Jerry’s what was Greenfield’s job there, but we haven’t heard back.

Among “his words” pasted in by Ben: “It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone.”

He was referring to the agreement the two founders struck with Unilever when they sold the company in 2000 – that Ben & Jerry’s could maintain independence and continue to speak on social causes, which had been a big part of their success.

“For more than 20 years under their [Unilever’s] ownership, Ben & Jerry’s stood up and spoke out in support of peace, justice and human rights, not as abstract concepts but in relation to events happening in our world,” Greenfield continued. And at the end of his essay, “It was always about more than just ice cream; it was a way to spread love and invite others into the fight for equity, justice and a better world.”

That independence from, and tolerance by, Unilever started to unravel when the brand backed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick after he knelt during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality in the U.S.

The feud got red hot, and went to court, when Ben & Jerry’s refused to sell ice cream in the West Bank to protest Israel’s settlements there and the war in Gaza. Some attempts to criticize Donald Trump early this year allegedly were censored by B&J’s multinational parent. And Unilever apparently fired B&J’s CEO David Stever this March.

With Unilever spinning off all its ice cream businesses into Magnum Ice Cream Co., Ben & Jerry’s lobbied to have itself sold separately, but Unilever and Magnum said it’s too critical a part of the new company to let go of.

Just last week, as Magnum Ice Cream Co. officials pitched their new company to investors in London, Ben Cohen protested outside the meeting, demanding the American business be sold off and “freed” from corporate censorship.