Unilever has threatened to pull funding for the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation — escalating its battle to muzzle the left-leaning ice cream brand’s progressive activism, according to a report.
The company has demanded Ben & Jerry’s Foundation submit to an expedited audit of its donations to continue receiving funding, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Unilever, which is based in London, gives approximately $5 million to the foundation each year, based on a formula of the ice cream company’s sales and inflation, sources told Reuters.
Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
Ben & Jerry’s Foundation donates to social justice grassroots organizations in the US, with an emphasis on groups in Vermont, where Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield founded the ice cream brand.
It has supported the Human Rights Coalition, a prison reform group led by formerly incarcerated individuals; Felony Murder Elimination Project, which protests a California rule that allows the death penalty for felons who did not commit a murder; and Adelante Student Voices, a network for undocumented students.
The company’s threat to yank funding is retaliation for a lawsuit filed in November, when Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of attempting to silence its pro-Palestinian messaging, the sources said.
Ben & Jerry’s has protested the war in Gaza and called for police departments to be defunded.
The ice cream company — known for funky flavors like Phish Food, Half Baked and Chunky Monkey — has also accused Unilever of preventing it from speaking out against President Trump.
Cohen, who co-founded Ben & Jerry’s in 1978, earlier this month revealed he’s trying to gather a group of investors to buy back the brand, as Unilever prepares to spin off the company and the rest of its ice cream businesses. He pleaded with Unilever to “set us free.”
Tensions have been bubbling up for months as the parent company tried to silence its unruly ice cream brand.
In March, Ben & Jerry’s claimed Unilever fired chief executive David Stever — who started as a tour guide for the ice cream brand’s Waterbury factory — over the company’s anti-Trump political activism.
Ben & Jerry’s said the firing violated its 2000 merger agreement with the London firm.
Unilever, however, argued it has the authority to appoint a new chief executive, and that the decision would only be made after speaking with the board.
It’s unclear whether Stever is still with the company.
With Post wires
