‘Silenced’: Ben and Jerry’s co-founder quits because he can’t have his cash and bash Trump like he wants
Ben and Jerry’s long has been known for being a company that adopts and promotes leftist ideologies like abortion, the LGBT beliefs, and such. And blasts those who disagree.
It also, under its corporate Unilever ownership, makes and sells ice cream.
Its founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, felt so strongly about their ability to influence people with their ideologies that when they wanted cash, some $236 million, they installed in an agreement with purchaser Unilever provisions for them to continue.
Apparently, they failed to make that secure enough.
And now Cohen has posted a letter to fans on behalf of Greenfield announcing Jerry is walking away from the company, and “it’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone.”
He continued with his complaint that he isn’t allowed to bash President Donald Trump enough.
“It’s happening at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community.”
Actually, those “attacks” are the Trump administration’s goals of reducing discrimination produced by special privileges for minorities, fair and secure elections, a secure border, and more.
He revealed the company always was there to push political and ideological agendas.
“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. Coming to the conclusion that this is no longer possible at Ben & Jerry’s means I can no longer remain part of Ben & Jerry’s.”
After 47 years, Jerry has made the difficult decision to step down from the company we built together. 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 #FreeBenAndJerrys pic.twitter.com/EZXGRjs76a
— Ben Cohen (@YoBenCohen) September 17, 2025
A Fox affiliate report reveals the fight has been developing for some time, and it’s over the political agenda held by Cohen and Greenfield, and the corporate owner’s interest in its finances.
Greenfield wrote, “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.”
Further, the London-based Unilever, which also owns Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, is spinning off its ice cream holdings into a new company called the Magnum Ice Cream Company.
An official with that company said it is grateful to Cohen and Greenfield for their years of work, but it was “not aligned with his viewpoint,” the report said.
Jerry Greenfield said he could no longer ‘in good conscience’ remain an employee of the ice cream brand he launched almost half a century ago, arguing the Vermont-based company has lost its independence https://t.co/SfRuZ91byx pic.twitter.com/qSPjNUlnx5
— Financial Times (@FT) September 17, 2025
“We disagree with his perspective and have sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
Ben & Jerry’s recently claimed that Unilever unlawfully removed its CEO, David Stever, and the founders recently sued Unilever for refusing to let the company release a social media post naming “issues it believed would be challenged during President Donald Trump’s term.”
Its agenda for that statement included minimum wages, universal health care, abortion and climate change, which was global warming until the warming essentially stopped.
When Ben & Jerry’s announced, as part of its anti-Israel ideology, it would stop serving Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Unilever responded by selling those assets to another company.
Social media commenters pointed out that the activism apparently had produced for the company “disappointing sales.”
Super woke ice cream make Jerry Greenfield (of Ben & Jerrys) has quit after parent company, Unilever, insisted that Jerry stop his online activism after disappointing sales.
Go woke, go brokehttps://t.co/1B4N0BUWMK pic.twitter.com/gTCl1fsKhY
— Pete Clark (@PeteBritish) September 17, 2025