Ben Stein called 'racist' for saying he misses Aunt Jemima on his syrup bottle

WASHINGTON (TND) — Actor Ben Stein, 78, perhaps best known for being the monotone economics teacher in "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off," has found himself in a bit of a sticky situation after filming a promotional video for his podcast and posting it to social media.

On Monday night, Stein posted a video to his Truth Social account in which he lamented the state of American corporate culture. He used a brand of syrup, formerly called "Aunt Jemima," as an example.

I am about to do something which I sometimes do, which is to make breakfast for dinner," Stein begins in his video.

Aunt Jemima, yummy, pancake syrup. Now this used to show a large African American woman chef, but because of the inherent racism of America’s corporate culture, they decided to make it a white person," Stein says before looking at the syrup bottle and noticing there's actually not a person on it. "Or maybe no person at all... But I preferred it when it was a Black person showing their incredible skill at making pancakes."

PepsiCo Inc. rebranded its "Aunt Jemima" syrup in 2021 following public pushback for its imagery possibly having perceived ties to racist tropes. The syrup was rebranded to "Pearl Milling Company" and the brand's titular mascot, who Stein called "a large African American woman chef," was retired.

The social media video posted by Stein on Monday was apparently a promotion for an upcoming episode of the actor's podcast, "The World According To Ben Stein," which is titled "The Inherent 'Racism' Of America's Corporate America."

A summary of the podcast episode says that Stein was joined by his co-host Judah Friedman and former Trump EPA chief of staff Mandy Gunasekara "to discuss the effects of woke corporate culture in society and the ongoing war against Aunt Jemimah as well other corporate icons."

Stein's lamentation of Aunt Jemima's absence from his syrup bottle was later shared on Twitter by several accounts. Attorney Ron Filipkowski shared the clip with his over 678,000 Twitter followers, and many of them openly mocked Stein for his words.

Is anyone surprised that Ben Stein is a racist. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?" asked Bob Hille, a senior content consultant for Sporting News, in his tweet.

'The fake syrup isn’t racist enough'" another Twitter account said, mockingly interpreting Stein's video by fabricating the quote as a form of a joke.

To go out of your way to complain about not having the racist depiction of Aunt Jemima on a bottle of high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavoring and coloring railing shows the profound absurdity of latent racism that persists in many people like Ben Stein," lawyer and Suit Up News host Exavier Pope said in his tweet.

In reply to the video, others on Twitter wondered how Stein would feel "if it was a blatantly racist picture of a Jewish person advertising a savings account." One account openly expressed surprise that Stein was still alive. Even actress Ellen Barkin asked others to not call Stein an "actor" as "it makes us all look bad."

Some agreed with Stein's words, saying "woke corporate culture does ruin a lot of things."

Aunt Jemima was likened to the common racist archetype of a "Mammy" which is "the most well known and enduring racial caricature of African American women," according to Ferris State University.

During slavery, the mammy caricature was posited as proof that blacks -- in this case, black women -- were contented, even happy, as slaves. Her wide grin, hearty laugher, and loyal servitude were offered as evidence of the supposed humanity of the institution of slavery," Ferris State University says.

Aunt Jemima noticeably ticks all of those boxes, something her company acknowledged when retiring her.

We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, Kristin Kroepfl, said at the time of the company's change in branding for the syrup, according to CBS News.

As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers' expectations," Kroepfl reportedly added.