The veteran actor who has appeared in films such as The Babe, Green Mile and Succession made an appearance at the cafe restaurant chain located in New York City yesterday, 10 May, when the company announced the vegan milk surcharge.
As part of a group of PETA protesters, the Oscar-nominated actor donned a ‘Free The Animals T-shirt’ and read an open letter critiquing Starbucks policies and their daily use.
The 82-year-old said: “More than 13,000 customers have contacted you, and now we’re asking you to do it – will you cease charging extra for vegan milk?
“When do you plan to stop raking in massive profits while customers, animals, and the planet are harmed?
“When do you plan to stop penalizing people for their ethnicity and morals?”
Cromwell also said that cows’ mothers working in dairy suffer as a human mother would.
Police said no arrests were made.
He added, “Cows produce milk for the same reason humans do, which is to nourish their babies. In the dairy business, they have babies, and the babies are removed from them in minutes to allow their milk to be traded.
“Mother cows crying for their newborns for many days.
“These mothers must bear losing their children repeatedly and over. They are as grievous as human mothers do.”
Cromwell ultimately employed the knife to free himself from the counter. Police claimed that no arrests were made.
Starbucks outlets across America. The United States charges 50 cents to $1 more for drinks made of dairy products derived from plants.
The company’s spokesperson stated that it respects customers’ rights to express their opinions as long as it doesn’t interfere with our store operations’.
The spokesperson said, and we quote, “Customers can customize any drink on the menu using non-dairy kinds of milk like coconut milk, soy milk almond milk, and Oat milk at a cost that is higher than the fee (similar to other beverages customization options like the addition of an espresso shot and syrup).”
Cromwell has been an active activist for a number of years, fighting for a variety of issues.
He went vegetarian in the 1970s and then became vegan during his role as Farmer Hoggett in Babe in the film Babe the role that brought him the Academy Award nomination.
In 2017, he was charged with breaking the law to disrupt an orca display at SeaWorld located in San Diego.