Fact Check: Did Ben & Jerry’s release Antifa-inspired flavors? Viral claim debunked amid ongoing boycott calls

In the wake of boycott calls faced by American ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s, a tweet by The Babylon Bee went viral claiming that the company introduced Antifa-inspired flavors. Antifa refers to a left-wing anti-racist and anti-fascist political movement in the U.S.

The tweet also added a link, which led to an article about the ice cream company’s Antifa-inspired flavors. Although the tweet was made on July 5, the article was dated August 23, 2019, on Babylon Bee’s website.

However, it is to be noted that The Babylon Bee is a satirical news website. Their Twitter bio sarcastically claims to be a site for fake news that one can trust. The Vermont-based ice cream manufacturer had not released any such flavors in the market.

Ben & Jerry’s 4th of July tweet claiming that the United States was formed with stolen lands from indigenous people landed the company at the receiving end of a severe pushback. Conservatives and other people responded to the ice cream maker’s statement that the U.S. should return Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills to Lakota. They said that the company should first give Vermont back to the Abenaki.

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Satirical take on Ben & Jerry’s political activism by fake news website

The Antifa-inspired flavor release by the ice cream maker is not happening in reality, which is evident from the name of the flavor itself that it is made up.

The August 2019 satirical article by The Babylon Bee stated that the ice cream maker has long been known for its political activism and introduces flavors that ultimately support many progressive social causes. The Babylon Bee then called Ben & Jerry's an “anti-fascist organization,” adding that it stops fascism with bravery by forcing and silencing people who disagree with them.

As depicted by the fake news website, Ben and Jerry’s two new flavors inspired by Antifa are called “Blood of the People You Disagree With” and the non-dairy “Vegan Coconut Milkshake.” The main ingredient of the first flavor includes real bike locks, while the second flavor is made up of concrete mix.

The Babylon Bee continued that all these flavors are formulated using real ingredients, whether it be the actual sweat of Antifa rioters or the blood of the people at whom Antifa threw a brick.

In addition, The Babylon Bee added hilarious made-up reactions from Antifa taste-testers of the flavors to add to their sarcasm. It claimed that one tester in Portland called the Vegan Coconut Concrete mix ice cream delicious before throwing the half-finished product at a conservative reporter who was standing nearby.

Lastly, The Babylon Bee wrote that customers can get their Antifa ice cream customized at local Ben & Jerry’s shop with exciting new toppings such as bread crumbs manufactured by a Soviet breadline, bits of Venezuelan dog meat, and Molotov cocktail drizzle.

It is conjectured that the satirical website shared the link to their older news on the ice cream company after Ben & Jerry's made a political tweet that was presumably aimed at bringing social justice.

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Netizens claim Ben & Jerry's needs a Bud Light-style boycott

The ice cream company divided its customers over its Independence Day tweet, who rhetorically asked on their official website what the meaning of Independence Day was for people whose land was stolen by the United States.

Ben & Jerry’s further claimed that the indigenous people were either murdered or forced using brutal violence into reservations. As such, they were cast out of their native lands and were denied their freedom.

Their tweet was mostly met with outrage from netizens. Many were disgusted by Ben & Jerry’s anti-American sentiment on July 4, a day that marked the nation’s 247th independence anniversary. The Vermont-based ice cream maker has long been a supporter of liberal causes and often dedicated their ice cream flavors to those causes.

However, upset customers started using the hashtag #boycottbenandjerrys and slammed its anti-American message. Many wrote that Ben & Jerry’s needs to go out of business and should receive a similar treatment as Bud Light. Several users on Twitter wrote that they wouldn’t buy Ben & Jerry’s products anymore and that the company was long overdue for a boycott as big as Bud Light.