Ben & Jerry’s Radical Co-Founder Quits After Unilever Muzzles His Leftist Activism

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s and longtime champion of the brand’s radical left-wing activism, resigned this week, accusing parent company Unilever of silencing its “values-driven” voice. In a rambling and deeply ideological farewell letter shared on X by his longtime business partner Ben Cohen, Greenfield portrayed himself as a martyr of corporate censorship, lamenting that Ben & Jerry’s could no longer act as a megaphone for leftist causes.

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

Greenfield, who helped turn an ice cream brand into a vehicle for radical leftist politics, claimed he was stepping down because the company could no longer “stand up for the things we believed.” Among those beliefs: defunding the police, demonizing Israel, promoting abortion access, and collaborating with anti-police activist Colin Kaepernick.

“After 47 years,” Greenfield wrote, “I can no longer, in good conscience, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s.” He said he was heartbroken by the loss of what he called the company’s independence to promote leftist values, an independence supposedly enshrined in the 2000 acquisition deal with Unilever.

According to Greenfield, the company’s founding mission was never just about ice cream — it was always about being a “values-led” company that stood for “peace, justice, and human rights,” conveniently defined through the far-Left lens of modern identity politics. He went so far as to say that if Ben & Jerry’s can’t be a platform for leftist causes, “then it wasn’t worth being a company at all.”

Greenfield’s resignation caps off years of ideological escalation at Ben & Jerry’s. In 2021, the company tweeted that America’s policing system “can’t be reformed” and “must be dismantled” after the Daunte Wright shooting, calling the tragic incident a result of “white supremacy.” That same year, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with Colin Kaepernick for the “Change the Whirled” flavor, directing proceeds to his radical anti-police foundation.

Ben & Jerry’s has also been a persistent critic of Israel, going so far as to cease operations in what they called “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” parroting BDS-style rhetoric. Employees have reportedly been subjected to video lectures from anti-Israel activists, including Omar Shakir, a known BDS promoter expelled from Israel, who falsely accused the Jewish state of apartheid while downplaying terrorist aggression from Hamas.

The company’s descent into full-scale activism included introducing flavors called “Justice Remix’d” and “Pecan Resist,” each an homage to far-Left causes such as criminal justice reform and resistance to the Trump administration.