James Cromwell, “Succession” actor and honorary director of PETA, superglued himself to a Starbucks counter in New York City on Tuesday. Cromwell taped his hand to the counter at a Midtown, Manhattan store to urge Starbucks not to charge additional fees for vegan milk.
PETA, which stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, livestreamed the taping on Facebook. The video shows several other protesters holding up signs and shouting “save the planet, save the cows”. Police officers showed up and told the protesters to disperse.
However, Cromwell and another man appeared to have stayed inside longer than other protesters, their hands glued to the counter near the tills.
Finally, they cleaned the glue off their hands while police officers watched.
Succession actor James Cromwell superglued himself to a Starbucks counter as part of PETA’s protest against vegan milk
Cromwell, who plays Ewan Roy on Succession, has appeared in several TV shows and films since the 1970s, including roles on Six Feet Under, ER and Dallas.
“My friends at PETA and I are urging Starbucks to stop penalizing friendly and environmentally conscious customers for choosing plant-based milks,” Cromwell said in a statement. “We all have an interest in the life-and-death matter of climate catastrophe, and Starbucks should do its part by ending its vegan premium.”
In a press release, PETA called the dairy industry “a major emitter of the greenhouse gases contributing to climate catastrophe” and claimed it was “responsible for immense animal suffering.”
On its website, PETA says, “It’s great that Starbucks offers so many delicious vegan dairy options,” but as more people “give up dairy and go vegan to help animals, save the environment, and improve their own health,” Starbucks shouldn’t charge extra for non-dairy milk.
The animal rights group said its campaign against Starbucks included a letter from Paul McCartney to former Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, as well as daily sit-ins at Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters.
They also said that RISE Brewing Co., which sells canned coffee drinks, handed out their Nitro Cold Brew mochas made with oat milk — a vegan option — in front of Starbucks locations across the US as part of the protest.
In a statement to CBS News, a Starbucks representative said, “We respect our customers’ right to speak their minds respectfully, so long as it doesn’t disrupt our store operations.”
Caitlin O’Kane