James Cromwell Finally Weighed In On His Infamous Starbucks Protest

For those who have been following food news, or the news in general, you may have heard a recent news story about James Cromwell participating in a Starbucks protest in Midtown Manhattan. The actor, beloved today for his recurring role in "Succession," showed up with fellow PETA members wearing a "Free the animals" T-shirt to boycott Starbucks' policy of charging extra for milk alternatives like almond milk, oat milk, and coconut milk. While offering these milks is great news for Starbucks' dairy-free customers, the surcharges quickly add up. At the moment, the company only provides dairy milk as the free base of its drinks. And the issues don't stop there, as Starbucks has recently gone so far as to increase its ads for vegan drinks to push customers to purchase its pricier, dairy-free drinks.

Cromwell not only showed up as an active participant but took the protest up a notch by supergluing his hand to the counter (via The Washington Post). The move was unorthodox but effective, with PETA live-streaming the protest, causing it to trend on social media. At the time, Cromwell provided little explanation for this choice, but in the form of an opinion piece, he is finally opening up about his experience.

In a recent op-ed he personally penned for The Washington Post, James Cromwell opened up about his decision to superglue himself to the Starbucks counter and insists he would absolutely do it again. As Cromwell points out, the stakes are higher than just saving customers a couple of cents on their Starbucks run.

The underlying issue the protest addressed was climate change, which is affected by the use of dairy products, which he claims "are Starbucks' largest source of carbon dioxide emissions." According to Cromwell, studies show that "cow's milk is responsible for three times the emissions of plant milks." This is backed by Whole Earth & Sea, which also discusses which plant-based milks are better than others for the environment.

Charging upwards of 80 cents for "conscientious people" to use vegan products discourages customers from using them and contributes to the further use of the earth-damaging dairy products. He also brings attention to the immeasurable pain cows endure from abuse on dairy farms, from forced pregnancy to induce lactation to their purposefully shortened life spans as a result.

The final nail in the coffin of this Starbucks practice is the fact that many people, especially in the Asian American, Native American, and African American communities, are lactose intolerant, making the practice of upcharging them for milks their bodies can tolerate discriminatory as well. So at the end of the day, Cromwell is as passionate as ever — and if the policy doesn't change, Cromwell's super glue antic may just make another appearance.