An image shared on Facebook claims ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s is discontinuing its vanilla ice cream to combat white supremacy.

Verdict: False

Ben & Jerry’s has not announced it is discontinuing its vanilla ice cream flavor. The claim appears to have stemmed from a satirical Medium blog post.

Fact Check:

The popular ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s produces a wide array of flavors such as Chunky Monkey, Phish Food, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cherry Garcia. The image in the April 26 Facebook post alleges the company is going to stop producing a classic ice cream flavor, vanilla.

“THIS IS NOT A JOKE!” the image reads. “Ben and Jerry’s will discontinue Vanilla Ice Cream To Combat ‘White Supremacy.'” (RELATED: Does Avoiding Ice Cream And Other Cold Food Products Help To Prevent Contracting Coronavirus?)

There is, however, no indication Ben & Jerry’s is discontinuing its vanilla flavor. The ice cream maker hasn’t put out a statement announcing such a move on its website or said it plans to do so on its verified social media accounts. The flavor is still listed on Ben & Jerry’s website as of April 28.

“I think we can confirm it is a false statement,” Sean Greenwood, the public relations director for Ben & Jerry’s, said in an email to Check Your Fact.

The rumor about the company discontinuing its vanilla ice cream seems to have stemmed from a satirical June 2020 post from the Medium blog Infinite Quark. The blog describes itself on its Medium “About” page as a “satire wonderland.”

Ben & Jerry’s has publicly addressed white supremacy and racial injustice on multiple occasions in the past. In response to the May 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, the company on June 2, 2020, tweeted an image that said, “We must dismantle white supremacy.”

The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy. https://t.co/YppGJKHkyN pic.twitter.com/YABzgQMf69

— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) June 2, 2020

More recently, the ice cream maker tweeted in response to the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during an April 11 traffic stop.

The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities.

This system can’t be reformed.

It must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up.#DefundThePolice

— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) April 12, 2021

“The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities,” Ben & Jerry’s tweeted April 12. “This system can’t be reformed. It must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up.#DefundThePolice.”