Coca-Cola, Ben & Jerry's and other companies support rioting.
Businesses were looted amid unrest in response to the shooting death of Daunte Wright, but an image that's being shared on social media mischaracterizes some companies' support for racial justice as support for rioting. 'Boycott companies that support BLM and rioting,' reads the text above dozens of logos for companies including Coca-Cola, Ben & Jerry's, LinkedIn and Lego. 'They only understand one language, profit, show them it is not OK to support crime and the radical left.' This post was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) We reached out to some of the companies in the post. Sean Greenwood, a spokesperson for Ben & Jerry's told us that while the ice cream company 'has been on record since 2016 officially supporting the Black Lives Matter movement,' the company does not support rioting. 'We believe racial justice and dealing with our existing white supremacy culture is one of the most pressing issues of our time,' he said. 'Often we find that those who disagree with the Black Lives Matter movement try to discredit it by tying it to rioting and violence. We don't subscribe to that negative narrative, nor do we support violence in any form.' Lego did not comment on the Facebook post but instead pointed us to a statement the company made on Instagram in June 2020, saying 'we stand with the Black community against racism and inequality' and committing to donating $4 million to organizations that support Black children and educate all children about racial equality. The statement didn't express support for violence or rioting. LinkedIn also directed us to statements the company made in 2020 supporting Black Lives Matter. They did not mention support for violence or rioting. In the wake of George Floyd's death, the CEO of Coca-Cola told employees in a virtual town hall that 'companies like ours must speak up as allies to the Black Lives Matter movement.' He said 'we stand with those seeking justice and equality.' His only mention of violence was violence that stems from racism. He didn't say he supports rioting. While Coca-Cola and other companies have spoken out in support of BLM, we found no evidence that they support rioting. We rate that claim False.
We rate that claim False.