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Reese’s family member escalates battle with Hershey over chocolate ingredients, blasts ‘PR stunt’

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The grandson of the Reese’s candy founder continues to blast Hershey after the company said it will return some products to classic recipes by 2027 — as he argues the fix isn’t coming fast enough.

Brad Reese, grandson of founder H.B. Reese, has criticized The Hershey Company in recent months for allegedly switching real milk chocolate for cheaper ingredients.

In a recent interview with NewsNation this month, Reese accused the Pennsylvania-based candy giant of swapping out “milk chocolate for compound coating.”

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Compound coating is a cheaper, chocolate-like product that does not contain cocoa butter — a key requirement for real chocolate. Instead, it uses vegetable fats.

“If it doesn’t say milk chocolate, then it doesn’t have cocoa butter — and they’re using vegetable oils, and they quietly swapped that out,” Reese said in the interview.

His criticism appears to focus on certain seasonal or specialty items, specifically Reese’s Unwrapped Chocolate Peanut Butter Crème Mini Hearts.

Hershey told FOX Business earlier this month that it intends to phase out certain compound coatings and transition those products to traditional milk or dark chocolate by next year — but Reese told NewsNation that response was merely “a PR stunt.”

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“They have the ability to switch back [to] using real milk chocolate in three days,” Reese said.

“This is all a stunt. They’re hoping that the outrage will die down.”

Reese, who is based in Florida, previously told FOX Business he discarded a bag of Reese’s Unwrapped Chocolate Peanut Butter Crème Mini Hearts candies after sampling a few bites.

“I couldn’t eat it,” Reese said. “It was not edible, and I looked at the packaging. … There was no milk chocolate. There was no peanut butter. It was all vegetable oils and fats.”

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He added, “I can’t go on representing being the grandson of Reese’s when the product is total bunk. You have no idea how devastating it is.”

A Hershey official told Fox News Digital on Monday that the company “is committed to making products consumers love, and that means continually reviewing our recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences.”

“A series of enhancements taking effect in 2027 reflect that commitment: We’re transitioning to colors from natural sources across our sweets portfolio, enhancing Kit-Kat’s recipe for a creamier taste and texture, and bringing a small portion of remaining Hershey’s and Reese’s products in line with their classic milk and dark chocolate recipes,” the statement said.

“The core recipes for our Hershey’s chocolate bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups have not changed.”

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The official also shared a statement from the Reese family. 

It stated that they “would like to make it clear that we have no involvement in, nor do we support, the recent claims made by Brad Reese regarding The Hershey Company.”

The comment went on, “His statements and opinions are entirely his own and do not reflect the view or position of our family. … We believe H.B. Reese would take great pride in the products produced under his name today and in the integrity with which the brand continues to be managed.”

Brad Reese’s comments went viral earlier this year. 

In an X post that drew some 26,000 likes and more than 820,000 views, thousands of commenters sounded off, with almost no positive response to the changes.

“Reese’s were my favorite chocolate candy as a kid. I had one recently, and it tasted gross and waxy,” one user said. “Literally could not finish it.”

“I got roasted last Halloween at work for saying they aren’t the same anymore and that I don’t even eat them now,” another person wrote. “They said I was crazy. Vindicated.”

Sophia Compton of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.

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Ted Danson says Bill Clinton grilled him about his ‘intentions’ with Mary Steenburgen using Secret Service

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Ted Danson’s early romance with Mary Steenburgen included a high-stakes moment at the White House.

Danson, 78, recalled an intense one-on-one with then-President Bill Clinton that centered around the actor’s “intentions” with Steenburgen — a close, personal friend of the Clintons.

“One of the first things she did was take me to meet her dear friends in the White House,” Danson recalled while moderating a History Talks panel alongside Bill and Hillary Clinton, according to Variety. “Bill — Mr. President — took me around the corner, and there were three Secret Service agents behind him, all of them looking at me. The president asked me what my intentions were.”

“My first question is to you, Mr. President: Do you think that was fair?” the “Cheers” star quipped.

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“No, but it was effective,” Clinton replied. “And I didn’t think I had to be fair. As it turned out, you became the best thing that ever happened to her.”

The couple met in 1993 while on the set of the movie “Pontiac Moon” and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most-loved couples. They got married in October 1995 in a ceremony on Martha’s Vineyard.

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When speaking about their relationship to People in February 2021, Danson explained he knew he had to propose to her because he “couldn’t imagine not being with her at all times.”

“Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for 100 more lifetimes,” Steenburgen told the outlet. “He makes me a better person. He’s a truly beautiful human being. A great big soul. I love how he sees the world and how he cares about people, and he’s deeply hilarious, which is super, super sexy to me, and he smells really nice.”

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After years of leading successful careers, Danson and Steenburgen got the opportunity to work together on Netflix’s “Man on the Inside.” Steenburgen joined the cast for season 2 of the comedy as the love interest for Danson’s character.

Steenburgen told People in November 2025 when she found out she had landed the role, “there was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down … because we were so excited to work together.”

“We’re both actors,” Danson told the outlet. “We were trained the same way. We had some really good material to work with. We’d get up every morning giggling about what we get to do.”

Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.

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Bill Maher, Woody Harrelson sound off on California business climate, say state deserves to be ‘s— on’

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Comedian Bill Maher and actor Woody Harrelson unloaded on the state of California over its business climate during Maher’s “Club Random” podcast on Monday.

Maher and Harrelson co-own a cannabis dispensary and lounge in West Hollywood called The Woods. The pair discussed the difficulties of owning a pot shop in the liberal state.

“We’re trying. It’s not easy to make a business work in California,” Maher said as he explained why he decided to record the April 20 episode at the pot store.

Harrelson agreed and added, “California just messes with every business.”

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“I mean, I don’t want to like start this off — why not? Why, just s—ing on California. But California deserves to be s— on for a lot of this kind of stuff. And people know and this is why people flee the state,” Maher continued.

The comedian said it “sucks” to do any kind of business in California, but said the state still treats cannabis like it’s “poison.”

“They treat it like you’re lucky that we allow you to do this, and so we’re going to tax you 35%, which is way more. It’s more than double anything,” Harrelson said.

California has a 15% gross receipts tax on the retail sale of cannabis or any cannabis product. It briefly rose to 19% in 2025, but a bill passed in September brought it back down to 15%.

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However, with other local taxes and the state’s sales tax, the rate can exceed 30%.

Later in the discussion, the pair said business at their store was picking up, and Harrelson hammered the tax rate again.

“But I tell you what, there’s nothing we can do when the government is charging 35%. Like they can’t tax us 35%, it’s not right,” he said.

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California metro areas have seen net losses from businesses and corporations leaving the state, led by the San Francisco Bay Area, with a net loss of 156 headquarters since 2018.

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CBS host presses former AG Eric Holder on defending partisan redistricting efforts in Virginia

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Margaret Brennan pressed Eric Holder on Sunday over whether Democratic-backed redistricting efforts in Virginia amount to partisan “stacking the deck,” as the former Barack Obama official defended the proposal as a response to Republican-led map drawing nationwide during an appearance on “Face the Nation.”

“So by holding this referendum and changing the maps, how do you guarantee that this is temporary and that this doesn’t keep happening?” Brennan asked, after questioning how drawing maps along partisan lines is not simply “stacking the deck.”

Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, framed the push as part of a broader effort to counter Republican gains in states such as Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.

“This is really a national fight. It’s not a fight only about Virginia,” Holder said. “What Virginia is doing, what California did is only in response to that which Republicans started in Texas.”

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Brennan pointed to Virginia’s existing bipartisan redistricting commission, suggesting it already provided a fairer system and questioning why Democrats were seeking to alter it.

“In Virginia, there already was a bipartisan commission that was set up to do these things… that sounds fair,” Brennan said.

Holder responded that the current proposal is limited in scope and tied directly to voter approval.

“The measure itself says that it is time-limited,” Holder said. “It is only for this cycle, an additional cycle, and after the census that could be changed again.”

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Brennan further pressed whether the move signaled Democrats lacked confidence in winning under current conditions, noting historical midterm trends and political headwinds facing the president’s party.

“Why do Democrats need to do this? It sounds like it’s acknowledging that the Democratic Party can’t win on its own,” Brennan said.

Holder rejected that characterization, framing the effort as a necessary countermeasure.

“The Democrats can certainly win if it’s a fair fight,” Holder said. “It wasn’t going to be a fair fight nationally if you try to steal seats in Texas, in North Carolina, and in Missouri.”

Brennan also cited Holder’s past statements opposing partisan gerrymandering, including warnings that it leads to governments that do not reflect voter preferences and contributes to political gridlock.

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“If we don’t respond to that which they are trying to do, we could lose our democracy,” Holder said. “And not have the ability to get back to that fairness fight.”

Brennan also raised criticism from redistricting advocates, including concerns that proposed maps in Virginia could dilute Black political influence.

“What’s in this for us?” Brennan said, referencing criticism from the National Black Nonpartisan Redistricting Organization.

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“That’s simply untrue,” Holder responded. “Do you think that another two years of unchecked Trump power is in the best interest of African-Americans in this nation? No.”

“I hope we’ll pass federal legislation that will ban partisan gerrymandering just outright and do away with this altogether,” Holder said.

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