Ben and Jerry’s claims its chief executive has been sacked amid a longstanding row with its UK parent firm over the ice cream maker’s political activism.
Court documents allege David Stever was being removed from his post by Unilever because he was too outspoken on social issues.
Last month the ice cream company, which had launched a flavour in support of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris, accused Unilever of demanding it stop any public criticism of Donald Trump.
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Ben and Jerry’s, which was founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978, was bought by the consumer goods giant in 2000.
As part of the merger deal, an independent board was set up to protect the ice cream brand’s mission and strong stance on social issues.
Unilever said that under the arrangement it “reserved primary responsibility for financial and operational decisions”.
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A series of disputes have followed.
The most high-profile spat came in 2021 when the US brand took the decision not to sell ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories on the grounds that sales would be “inconsistent” with its values.
Unilever responded by selling the business to its licensee in Israel.
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Ben & Jerry’s alleged in its filing to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that Unilever had wanted to stop Mr Stever – its boss of almost two years – from making political statements.
“Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry’s personnel, including CEO David Stever, should they fail to comply with Unilever’s efforts to silence the social mission,” the filing said.
“On March 3 2025, Unilever informed the independent board that they were removing and replacing Mr Stever as Ben & Jerry’s CEO.”
Unilever has been contacted for comment.
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Mr Stever – a veteran of the ice cream brand who started out as a company tour guide in 1988 – remains listed as the chief executive on the Ben & Jerry’s website.
There is a possibility that the frostiness between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever will thaw under the parent’s firm’s plans to spin off its ice cream interests into a separate company.
That division, which also comprises brands such as Magnum and Wall’s, is set to be based in the Netherlands with a primary stock market listing in Amsterdam.
