Target shares tumble after Pride display backlash
Charlie Hurt and Leslie Marshall discuss Target's market value declining $9.3B in one week after Pride display.
"Twilight" actress Rachelle Lefevre said she can no longer take her 7-year-old non-binary son to shop at Target after it moved its controversial Pride collection to the back of some stores to quell the ongoing backlash.
In an emotional Instagram post over the weekend, the Canadian actress accused Target of "trying to erase" the LGBTQ community by moving Pride displays away from the front of several southern stores amid threats of boycotts and backlash from conservatives. In her caption, Lefevre said the big box retail chain demonstrated "performative allyship" by fraudulently supporting her son and other members of the LGBTQ community.
"'I just walked into Target and where you see all these lovely swimsuits, that's where the Pride display used to be. I came in here two days ago and my 7-year-old, who’s nonbinary, saw it and said, ‘Look, Mom, it’s pride Look, they’re going to celebrate me,'" an emotional Lefevre said on Instagram.
(Instagram: RachelleLefevre)
"I can’t bring them here anymore, at least for the entire month of June, because if they walk in, and all the other people who walk in and go, ‘Where’d it go?’ are going to realize that they are being successful in trying to erase them."
"We can do much better than this. We’re not supposed to negotiate with terrorists," she added.
Fox News Digital first reported last week that many locations, mostly in rural areas of the South, have relocated and tamped down Pride sections to avoid the kind of backlash Bud Light received after partnering with a transgender influencer. A Target insider told Fox News Digital that an "emergency" meeting was held to avoid what a Target insider called a "Bud Light situation," and the company said it had made moved Pride displays away from the entrances in response to threats some of its staff had received.
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Target CEO Brian Cornell sent a letter to employees defending the company's handling of its Pride collection. (Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesREUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
Lefevre wrote alongside her video that if the Pride-themed display was moved for a "security issue," Target should have hired extra security instead of sending the message that LGBTQ people aren’t "worth protecting or fighting for."
The move comes as Target suffered a $9.3 billon hit in market value in one week after its June Pride month collection, which includes "tuck friendly" women's bathing suits, "gender fluid" mugs, and LGBTQ rainbow-themed clothing for children, prompted nationwide outrage.
Target CEO Brian Cornell sent a letter to employees defending the company's decision to move the collection in its stores while underscoring his support for the LGBTQ community.
"This has been a very hard day for Target, and it follows many difficult days of deliberation and decision-making," Cornell wrote to staff on Wednesday, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Insider.
Many Target locations across the country feature massive June Pride month displays on an annual basis. (Brian Flood/Fox News)
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In a follow-up video posted on Instagram, Lefevre said she received "hurtful, disgusting" comments after revealing she will no longer bring her child to Target, but is choosing to "know how much pain" her critics are in instead of clapping back.
"I know the kind of hate you have to put inside you to numb the hurt,' she said. "So instead of hating back, I just choose to know how much pain you're in."
She also updated the caption of her original post, writing: "If you came here and posted hateful, ignorant garbage, please just unfollow me. I’m sorry for whatever happened to you to make you susceptible to such lies and made your heart so hardened with hate, I truly am, and I suggest you use your precious life force to find joy and fill your days with more love and more joy because you clearly aren’t finding it here."
Target did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.
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