Ben & Jerry’s has accused its owner Unilever of removing its chief executive David Stever, in the latest revelations from the two companies’ feud over political activism.

In an allegation filed in a US court by the ice cream against its parent company, Ben & Jerry’s said Unilever had violated a merger agreement by trying to silence its “social mission” and forcing its CEO to step down.

The filing with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said: “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 latest statements come just a month after Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of demanding that it stop publicly criticising US President Donald Trump.

The comments follow in the wake of the ice cream brand in November suing Unilever, after it claimed that the consumer goods giant attempted to block it from making public statements about Palestinian refugees amid the Israel-Gaza conflict.

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It argued the move infringed the terms of a confidential settlement made between the pair in 2022 where Unilever agreed to “respect and acknowledge the Ben & Jerry’s independent board’s primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry’s social mission”.

Filed in New York late last year, the lawsuit claimed: “Ben & Jerry’s has on four occasions attempted to publicly speak out in support of peace and human rights. Unilever has silenced each of these efforts.”

The current lawsuit is not the first time Ben & Jerry’s has clashed with its parent company over its stance on social, climate, and human rights issues.

In 2021, the brand said it no longer wanted its ice cream to be sold in the parts of Palestine occupied by Israelis including the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Unilever eventually sold the Israeli arm of Ben & Jerry’s to a local operator that allowed sales to continue under different branding.

However, the US ice cream brand subsequently took legal action against Unilever, but was later resolved.

Political activism is a core part of the Ben & Jerry’s brand. In 2023, co-founder Ben Cohen was arrested in Washington over protesting following the prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.