Actor and activist James Cromwell temporarily closed a Manhattan Starbucks on Tuesday to protest the coffee company’s surcharge on dairy milk alternatives.
And he did it by sticking his hand to the barista’s counter as he read aloud a list of complaints.
“More than 13,000 clients have asked you. Now we are asking: Will they stop charging more for vegan milk? When will you stop making huge profits while customers, animals and the environment suffer? she said in a live stream posted on social mediaprotesting against former CEO Kevin Johnson — and presumably interim boss Howard Schultz — and the dairy industry.
“When will they stop penalizing people for their ethnicity and their morals? Pointless surcharge harms animals,” he added.
The “Succession” star and “LA Confidential” veteran was joined by several People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists who “hit the counter” to protest the coffee giant’s additional fees for vegan milk options, according to a cheep from the PETA account.
The protest continued until the New York police arrived at the scene and threatened to arrest those who did not leave. Cromwell finally took his hand off and that of another protester at the scene before the store briefly closed. TMZ reported.
But he did a lot of digging before that, detailing how “producing cow’s milk creates three times more greenhouse gases than producing vegan options.”
“If you drink milk, you are subsidizing the beef industry,” he said, adding: “Starbucks has admitted that cow’s milk is the company’s largest contributor to its carbon footprint. And Starbucks agrees that vegan milks are a big part of the solution, but still charges for them.
“Starbucks claims it wants to be more sustainable, but discourages customers from choosing sustainable products. The company says it is committed to inclusion and diversity, but continues to discriminate against those who cannot eat dairy. This exorbitation disproportionately affects people of color with a much higher rate of lactose intolerance,” he continued.
“Stop this practice of charging customers more for something that should be available to everyone, that saves the planet, that does not harm animals and that will make a difference. Your understanding of this and your support are essential,” Cromwell said. “We are here to draw attention to the harm that charging extra money does to animals, to the planet and to the people who live on the planet.”
Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan ‘Freedom for Animals’, Cromwell was joined by protesters chanting: ‘Save the planet, save the cows, end the vegan surcharge now’ and several others carried banners urging supporters to send a text message to Starbucks to finish. the surcharge
A PETA organizer also chimed in during the livestream to say they were voluntarily taking their hands off the counter before law enforcement arrived to “be in compliance with the police.”
“We’re not trying to cause too much trouble. We’re just trying to be here at Starbucks so they know that this charge about vegan milks is not correct. And it’s bad for the planet, it’s bad for the animals,” said the organizer.
The complicated situation of the Oscar-nominated star was similar again rally last month during an NBA game in Minnesota, when a woman stuck her hand on the court to protest factory egg farms backed by Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. It is unclear if the woman was affiliated with PETA.
Cromwell has been a vegan and animal rights activist working with PETA since the 1995 movie “Babe,” and Tuesday’s protest wasn’t the 82-year-old star’s first brush with the law for his beliefs.
In 2013, Cromwell was arrested for disorderly conduct after crashing a University of Wisconsin-Madison board meeting to protest what he believed was cat torture at the university.
Cromwell was also cited in 2017 for trespassing after he and six other activists disrupted an orca show at SeaWorld in San Diego to stage a protest. That same year, he was sentenced to jail for refusing to pay fines related to his arrest at a protest at a New York power plant.
In 2019, he was charged with disorderly conduct after police say he and another man disrupted a Texas A&M University System Board of Regents meeting.
PETA has been campaigning against the dairy industry for some time. As recently as Monday, the organization applauded incoming Twitter boss Elon Musk for calling chocolate milk “unbelievably good.”
“Drinking cow’s milk is like driving a gas-guzzling car. The dairy industry is one of the worst contributors to climate catastrophe. What happened to caring for the environment? the group tweeted Monday. “Now we can leave chocolate oat milk behind.”
Reference-www.latimes.com