BEN & Jerry’s has said parent firm Unilever has sacked its chief executive amid rows over the ice cream brand’s political activism.
The US brand said in a court filing that David Stever, who led the firm for almost two years, was removed from his post earlier this month.
Ben & Jerry’s alleged in a filing to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that Unilever, the UK-based consumer giant, wanted to stop the boss 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.
Anuradha Mittal, the chair of Ben & Jerry’s independent board, said: “Dave has courageously advanced the company’s social mission and values, has continued to drive innovation in its super premium product range, and has delivered strong financial results, far outpacing the rest of Unilever’s ice-cream business.
“What Dave hasn’t done is what Unilever would like him to do, which is to oversee the dismantling of Ben & Jerry’s mission, progressive values.”
Ben & Jerry’s, which was founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978, was bought by the UK-based 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.
However, the parties have had a series of disputes in recent years, with particular tensions over Ben & Jerry’s move to halt sales in the West Bank in 2021. Unilever blocked the attempts but was then sued by Ben & Jerry’s.
Last month, Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of demanding that it stops publicly criticising US President Donald Trump.
