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Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has give up the corporate, because the divide with mum or dad Unilever grew over its stance on the Israel-Hamas struggle in Gaza.
His associate, Ben Cohen, shared Greenfield’s open letter on X on Wednesday, saying it was a “troublesome choice.” Greenfield had been with the corporate for 47 years.
“This is likely one of the hardest and most painful choices I’ve ever made,” Greenfield wrote within the letter. “This is not as a result of I’ve misplaced my love for the individuals at Ben & Jerry’s. Fairly the alternative.”
He went on to say that when Unilever purchased the corporate greater than 20 years in the past, it “assured” Ben & Jerry’s had “the independence to pursue our values.”
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Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, fingers out free ice cream at Franklin Sq. in Philadelphia throughout their Scoop The Vote tour to get-out-the-vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats down the poll on September 16, 2024, ( Lisa Lake for MoveOn / Getty Pictures)
Greenfield mentioned he might now not “in good conscience” proceed working for an organization that had been “silenced” by Unilever. He additionally referred to as out the present administration, saying it’s “attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, girls and the LGBTQ neighborhood.”
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have clashed since 2021, when the ice cream maker mentioned it will cease gross sales within the West Financial institution.
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An individual walks by a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream store on March 19, 2025, in San Francisco, California. ( Justin Sullivan / Getty Pictures)
The model has since sued its mum or dad over alleged efforts to silence it and described the Gaza battle as “genocide,” a uncommon stance for a significant U.S. firm.
A spokesperson for Magnum Ice Cream Firm, Unilever’s ice cream unit, informed Reuters that it “disagrees with Greenfield’s perspective and has sought to interact each co-founders in a constructive dialog on learn how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s highly effective values-based place on the earth.”
Jerry Greenfield, left, and Ben Cohen, proper, co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s, appeared collectively at hand out free ice cream at Franklin Sq. in Philadelphia throughout their Scoop The Vote tour on September 16, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ( Lisa Lake for MoveOn / Getty Pictures)
Magnum mentioned Greenfield stepped down as a model ambassador and that he’s not a celebration to the lawsuit.
Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s was based by Cohen and Greenfield in a renovated gasoline station in 1978, and saved its socially acutely aware mission after Unilever purchased it in 2000.
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“It was all the time about extra than simply ice cream; it was a approach to unfold love and invite others into the battle for fairness, justice and a greater world,” Greenfield wrote.
FOX Enterprise reached out to Unilever for remark.
Reuters contributed to this report.