Target Apologizes As Racist Costume Reopens DEI Boycott Wounds

Target has found another way to insult Black shoppers, pulling a children’s Halloween costume after critics compared it to blackface minstrelsy.

The $25 “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume” showed a Black child wearing black gloves and a face covering with an exaggerated toothy grin. Critics compared the image to Jim Crow-era minstrel caricatures, forcing Target to remove the costume from its Hyde and EEK! Boutique collection.

Target admitted the product should never have cleared review in an August 24 statement directed at Black customers and employees.

“As a company, we know we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. The costume is offensive and should never have been part of our assortment. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again.”

In January 2025, Target ended three-year diversity goals, concluded its REACH racial-equity initiative and renamed its Supplier Diversity operation. The retreat followed years of Target promoting racial equity and promising to invest more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses.

Plies noticed quickly and announced he would boycott the retailer only days after Target revealed the rollback.

“How would anybody want to get rid of them muthafuckin core values? Just how you said in this muthafuckin statement that y’all is evolving, guess what? I’m muthafuckin evolving too. I muthafuckin expected more outta y’all, Target. So I’ma follow y’all muthafuckin slogan, and I’m a muthafuckin pay y’all less.”

Pastor Jamal Bryant and Black church leaders organized a Target boycott beginning in March 2025. By August, PBS NewsHour reported that the campaign had slowed store traffic nationwide, while Target struggled with weak sales and a falling stock price.

Bryant explained to PBS NewsHour why Target became the movement’s focus, rather than corporations retreating from DEI.

“After the inauguration of President Trump, 23 corporations backtracked away from diversity, equity and inclusion, and we thought it prudent to just go after one at a time. The African American community spends upwards of $12 million a day at Target. And so we thought that the one that was the most trafficked should be the focus of our media attention.”

Target later acknowledged that its DEI changes produced adverse reactions and consumer boycotts throughout 2025. Reuters reported in February 2026 that new CEO Michael Fiddelke told employees that Target had lost the trust of shoppers and staff.

That history makes the costume look less isolated and more like a remarkably tone-deaf sequel to Target’s own trust problem.

Minneapolis business leader Sheletta Brundidge told Reuters the controversy raised an obvious question about who remained inside Target to challenge culturally offensive products.

Target entered this latest controversy five days after reporting that second-quarter comparable sales rose 3.8 percent, as Fiddelke’s turnaround began to gain traction.