The incident, which occurred on Tuesday, was a coordinated protest with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Cromwell is a long-time supporter of the group and serves as “Honorary Director”. He is seen in a video released by the organization asking Starbucks to “stop charging more” for vegan milk.
Starbucks charges an extra 70 cents or so for a dairy alternative, which includes soy, coconut, almond and oat milk, according to the US city. The chain recently removed the surcharge at its UK stores.
“My friends at PETA and I are calling on Starbucks to stop punishing kind, environmentally conscious customers for choosing plant-based milks,” Cromwell said in a PETA news release. “We all have a stake in the life-and-death issue of climate catastrophe, and Starbucks should do its part by ending its vegan surcharge.”
The incident appeared to last about a half hour before police arrived to evict the downtown Manhattan cafe. Cromwell appeared to scrape the glue off his hand with a knife.
PETA has long talked about this issue. Recently, Sir Paul McCartney wrote an open letter to the company’s former CEO Kevin Johnson requesting that its US locations drop the additional fee as they have in the UK.
Cromwell was also nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a farmer in the 1995 film “Babe.” He currently plays Ewan Roy on “Succession,” which airs on HBO. Like CNN, HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
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