Ben Stein misses ‘tall African American woman’ on syrup bottle

Ferris Bueller’s economics teacher has been criticized on social media for his rants about America’s corporate culture… and pancake syrup.

On Monday night, Ben Stein, the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off actor known for his monotone voice, posted a bizarre video on his Truth Social account in which he showed off a bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup while talking about the “inherent “Blamed” on American corporate culture racism for making the syrup less suited to his preferences.

“I’m about to do something I do sometimes, which is make breakfast for dinner,” he opened the video.

“Aunt Jemima, yummy, pancake syrup. This used to show a great African-American chef, but because of the inherent racism of American corporate culture, they decided to do it with a white person,” he said, looking at the bottle and then noting that the label doesn’t actually say a white person. “Or maybe no person at all.

“But I preferred it if it was a black person showing off their amazing pancake-making skills,” added Stein, 78.

In 2021, PepsiCo Inc. rebranded its Aunt Jemima pancake-and-syrup line as the Pearl Milling Company to eliminate its ties to racist tropes.

Stein’s video appears to have been a promo for the podcast episode “The World According to Ben Stein,” which aired Tuesday. Describing the episode, Stein said he sat down with co-host Judah Friedman and Trump’s EPA chief of staff Mandy Gunasekara “to discuss the impact of the awakened corporate culture in society and the ongoing war against Aunt Jemimah.” [sic] as well as [sic] other corporate icons.”

“Is erasing the path to progress?” the description reads. “We don’t think so either. We also discuss the consequences of weak White House leadership and the destabilizing impact it is having on our security interests here and abroad.”

Twitter did its thing and now Stein is being slammed for his syrup complaint.

Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks tweeted, “Don’t pancakes taste so good without prejudice? Uncle Ben, why do you need Aunt Jemima? PS Her name is Ben Stein, her name was Mrs. Nancy Green. Respect.”

“Is anyone surprised Ben Stein is a racist? Everyone? Everyone? firecrackers?” @BobHille tweeted.

Actor and Stuntman D. Russo intervenedand wrote, “‘I like MY pancake syrup served from a bottle that is a literal racist drip.’ – Ben Stein.”

“Aunt Jemima is based on the common ‘mama’ archetype, a plump black woman in a headscarf who is a devoted and submissive servant. Her skin is dark and clammy with a pearly white smile, but please, Ben, keep talking about equality.” @travis_rexrode tweeted.