Ben & Jerry's coowner Jerry Greenfield quits over claims brand 'silenced' on social issues John Liu, CNNSeptember 17, 2025 at 4:17 AM 0 Ben Cohen (left) and Jerry Greenfield (right), cofounders of Ben & Jerry's, hand out free ice cream at Franklin Square in Philadelphia on September 16, 2024 in Phil...
- - Ben & Jerry's co-owner Jerry Greenfield quits over claims brand 'silenced' on social issues
John Liu, CNNSeptember 17, 2025 at 4:17 AM
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Ben Cohen (left) and Jerry Greenfield (right), co-founders of Ben & Jerry's, hand out free ice cream at Franklin Square in Philadelphia on September 16, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - Lisa Lake/Getty Images for MoveOn
Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield has quit the ice-cream brand amid a dispute with its British owner Unilever, according a post by the other co-founder Ben Cohen.
Cohen shared a statement from Greenfield that said quitting was "one of the hardest and most painful decisions" he'd ever made, as he accused Unilever of curtailing the ice-cream maker's ability to speak out on social causes.
"Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry's has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power," Greenfield said in the statement. "And it's happening at a time when our country's current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community."
"It's with a broken heart that I've decided I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry's," he added.
Greenfield and Cohen sold their company to Unilever in 2000 and, according to Greenfield, were guaranteed the "independence to pursue (their) values."
"For more than twenty years under their 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 real events happening in our world," Greenfield wrote.
"It's profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone," he added.
CNN has reached out Unilever and its subsidiary, The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which controls Ben & Jerry's and is being spunoff into a separate entity.
A spokesperson for The Magnum Ice Cream Company told Reuters on Wednesday that it disagreed "with Jerry's perspective and (has) sought to engage both co-founders in constructive conversation."
Last week, Greenfield and Cohen, which no longer controls the company they created, wrote an open letter addressed to the Magnum Ice Cream Company board. It asked that Ben & Jerry's itself be spun off to operate independently, following several disputes over the years about its views on several issues, including criticism of President Donald Trump's policies and Israel's war in Gaza.
In response, Unilever said that Ben & Jerry's is a "proud part" of the Magnum Ice Cream Company and is not for sale.
The ice-cream brand's relationship with its British owner has been fraught in recent years. In 2021, Ben & Jerry's ended its sales in occupied Palestinian territories, saying it's inconsistent with the values of the socially conscious brand – a move that triggered backlash from Israel.
In March, Ben & Jerry's accused Unilever of breaching its merger agreement for ousting its then-CEO David Stever over the brand's public comments on progressive issues. In January, the ice-cream company alleged that Unilever "unilaterally barred" a post referencing abortion, climate change and universal healthcare because it mentioned President Donald Trump.
Late last year, Ben & Jerry also filed a lawsuit against Unilever, accusing the parent company of censoring its public statements to support Palestinian refugees and resolutions to end military aid to Israel.
Unilever has rejected all these claims.
CNN's Jordan Valinsky contributed reporting.
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