THE BLAZE – There is a battle underway over the ownership and identity of the iconic ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s — and its radical leftist founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, appear to be losing badly.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal indicated that Cohen was trying to gather investors to buy back the brand that he and Greenfield sold to Unilever 25 years ago.
“In the year 2000, Unilever loved us for who we were,” Cohen told the Journal. “Now we’ve gone separate ways in our relationship. We just need them to set us free.”
Unilever crushed Cohen’s dream this week, indicating that Ben and Jerry’s is “not for sale,” reported Bloomberg.
“The separation and listing of ice cream is the option that we consider maximizes shareholder value; that has not changed,” Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez said on a media call.
As of July 1, Unilever ice cream will reportedly become the Magnum Ice Cream Company and be listed in the Netherlands as a separate entity.
After tolerating decades of radioactive politics, Unilever appears keen to decontaminate Ben and Jerry’s.
‘Many states found Unilever to be in violation of their anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions laws.’
The ice cream company has long appeared less focused on selling its sugary dessert and more focused on selling a woke political worldview.
For instance, under its previous radical leadership, the company:
- told Americans celebrating the Fourth of July that “it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it”;
- called for the defunding of police;
- opposed legislation banning men from women’s sports, preventing teachers from grooming students behind parents’ backs, keeping boys out of girls’ locker rooms, and protecting children from drag shows;
- issued misleading commentary about Kyle Rittenhouse;
- bemoaned the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and advocated for looser abortion laws;
- took hard anti-Israel stances …
