South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has slammed the uber woke ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s for the company’s infamous July 4th tweet calling for the return of Mount Rushmore to Native Americans.
Noem, a Republican, in an interview with Fox News Thursday, called Ben & Jerry’s bosses a “bunch of liberal Vermont businessmen” who “haven’t studied our history” and think they “know everything about this country.”
The governor went on to describe Mount Rushmore as “the greatest symbol of our freedom.”
Since the news broke Tuesday, Unilever, which has owned Ben & Jerry’s since 2000, has lost $2.6 billion in market capital. Those shares fell 0.5 percent on Wednesday and 1 percent at the start of trading on Thursday.
At the time of writing, the company’s market capital has fallen from $133.5 billion to $131 billion.
Since the news broke Tuesday, Unilever, which has owned Ben & Jerry’s since 2000, has lost a staggering $2.6 billion in market capitalization
“We can learn from the men on this mountain. We can do better, but boy have they gotten us through some challenging times,” Noem added in her Fox interview, obviously referring to the faces that do Adorning the monument: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
“We should be proud of America and put an end to what Ben & Jerry’s is doing.” “They have no idea what they’re doing,” the governor added.
Noem has been touted by some as a potential Republican Party candidate for 2024 after her state recently passed several right-wing populist bills, including a ban on gender-based childcare and a sales tax cut.
In a recent radio interview, the Mount Rushmore state governor said she was focused on her job and that with Trump in the running, “I don’t see a way to win with anyone else right now.”
The embattled brand, founded by longtime Bernie Sanders allies Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenwood, tweeted the message to its 494,000 followers.
The 2000 acquisition agreement between Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s gave the ice cream maker autonomy to continue its progressive social mission independent of business decisions by its parent company.
“On this July 4th, it is high time we recognized that the US lives on stolen Indigenous land and pledged to return it,” the company’s official statement read, before proposing to restore Mount Rushmore to its original return to owner.
The ice cream brand, which has long wooed progressive audiences, called on the US to return “stolen Indigenous land.”
Ben & Jerry’s, headed by CEO Dave Stever (pictured), sparked outrage on Tuesday with a tweet to its 494,000 followers
Ben Cohen (left) and Jerry Greenfield (right) – the original founders of Ben & Jerry’s. It was recently discovered that Cohen is the single largest financier of the left-wing foreign policy group Eisenhower Media Network
Ben & Jerry’s also cites treaties that allowed the tribes to keep Mount Rushmore and a Supreme Court decision that found the land was indeed stolen from the Lakota tribe after they staged a sit-in in 1970
The company said the Lakota Sioux tribe referred to Mount Rushmore as Tunkasila Sakpe and the tribe considers the land sacred
As a result, ice cream makers are reaping a whirlwind of anger on social media.
One Twitter user wrote: ‘Ok you begin. Abandon your HQ.’ Another wrote: “Then this should be easy.” Shut down all your land, facilities and assets and donate them to tribal peoples.
Others called the Vermont-based ice giant a “hypocrite,” while another said, “I’m curious how many millions have you made signaling virtue?”
Earlier this month, Ukraine labeled Unilever an “international war sponsor” because the company continues to operate in Russia and is therefore subject to a new law requiring taxpaying companies to contribute directly to the war effort.
In 2022, Unilever paid $331 million in taxes in Russia, reports The Guardian.
Also in 2021, Ben & Jerry’s tried unsuccessfully to stop Unilever from selling its ice cream in parts of Israel.
The company first announced that it would no longer sell its ice cream in “occupied Palestinian territories,” areas that have been considered part of the modern state of Israel for decades.
However, the founders and their company were ultimately prevented from achieving their goal by Israeli licensee Avi Zinger, who continues to produce the ice cream at his factory in the Tel Aviv suburb and distribute it to the Israeli settlements.
At the time, the company was criticized by some for its anti-Zionist stance, which critics said reflected anti-Semitic values.
It later emerged that Unilever sold the ice cream in the area through a third-party dealer.