James Cromwell Glued His Hand To A Starbucks Counter To Protest The Cost Of Plant-Based Milks

To many people, James Cromwell is the stoic farmer from Babe who gentle parents a weird little pig all the way to a sheep herding competition win. But to the baristas of New York-area Starbucks, he’s just that guy who superglued his hand to their counter yesterday. Along with being a prolific actor, James Cromwell is also a long-time activist for a number of causes. And one of James’ current causes involves the price disparity of plant-based milks that are being steamed and foamed at your local Starbucks.

On Tuesday, James traveled to a New York-area Starbucks location with some of his PETA buddies (if there’s a messy stunt, you know the stunt queens at PETA are close by). The reason for their visit was not to revive their parched palates with a cool grande-sized strawberry açai lemonade refresher. Nope, it was all about soy milk. According to Deadline’s account, James and PETA were protesting Starbucks’ choice to upcharge customers for the various milks that don’t come out of a cow’s udders. So, soy, oat, coconut, or almond milks – you name it. This sounds like the kind of protest that would be better staged with the American Coupon Council or that thrifty money-saving maven Suze Orman, but it wasn’t just about the extra cash a customer has to shell out to get an oat milk vanilla latte.

James, who has been a vegetarian since 1974 and then went vegan while filming Babe, and PETA were arguing that plant-based milks (and just veganism in general) are a better option when it comes to battling climate change. Also, the only pigs who benefit from the vegan milk upcharge are the capitalist ones at the Starbucks head office. So that’s why 82-year-old James hopped up on the counter and slapped his superglue-covered palm down in the name of activism. via Deadline:

“Non-dairy products all over the world…France, they give these things away. There’s no charge for it. Here, there’s an exorbitant charge,” said Cromwell as he sat with his hand glued to the store’s payment counter. “Why, when it’s so important now to address climate change and to understand the violence to animals to go on to make dairy products that are served here? There’s no reason for it except greed.”

Here’s James in action. I can hear customers asking, “Is this going to take long? I’m here to pick up a mobile order for Melissa.” Or the employee whispering, “Oh no, please tell me that sticky clear substance is just glue on his hand…”

This is how you get an animal rights message to STICK!

James Cromwell joined PETA’s campaign and glued himself to a @Starbucks counter to call on the company to stop charging extra for animal and earth-friendly vegan milks! pic.twitter.com/N9aitSQHSm

— PETA (@peta) May 10, 2022

This is far from James Cromwell’s first run-in with the law during a protest. Police collected James at a SeaWorld protest back in 2017 (he and PETA were protesting the living conditions of the orca whales). That same year he was taken into custody during a protest at the proposed site of a natural gas power plant. James was also active in the protest of the Vietnam War and joined a defense committee for the Black Panthers in the 70s.

Deadline reports that the police were called to the scene and that the group of protesters, including James, all left after about 30 minutes. James’ hand was freed from the counter, although it’s not known how. I’ve gotten my hand stuck with superglue before, and the only real solution is to apply something very oily. My guess is a helpful Starbucks employee rubbed an everything croissant and ham sandwich around James’ hand. Those things are greasy enough to lift oil-based house paint.

Pic: INSTARimages