- Target should expect lawsuits from shareholders over its Pride range, Elon Musk said.
- The retailer's stock has tanked amid immense backlash from conservatives over its Pride collection.
Target should expect lawsuits from shareholders over its Pride range "for destruction of shareholder value," Elon Musk said.
The retailer said last month that it was pulling some items from its Pride Month collection after staff got threats from anti-LGBTQ activists. Target's share price has plummeted in recent weeks as the controversy unfurled.
Musk has now waded in on the discourse, responding to a tweet by right-wing personality Charlie Kirk about how JPMorgan had downgraded Target's stock.
"Won't be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value," Musk tweeted. The tech mogul shared anti-trans content on Twitter the same day, too, urging "every parent" to watch a video that promotes intolerance of trans people.
JPMorgan said that it had downgraded the stock because of its high exposure to millennials, many of whom will resume student loan debt repayments later this year, and it didn't directly mention the retailer's Pride collection, though it did refer to "recent company controversies."
Target's Pride Month collection, which has more than 2,000 pieces, includes items such as "tuck friendly" swimsuits for trans women, books for both children and adults, and T-shirts with slogans like "if being gay was a choice I'd be gayer" and "here, queer and without fear."
The items — in particular the swimsuits — provoked outrage from conservatives, leading to backlash against the retailer and its staff both in store and online. Workers got threats impacting their "sense of safety and wellbeing," Target said. One employee told Insider that guests had called and emailed his store, accusing the company of "grooming" and "indoctrinating" kids.
In response, Target staff were told to take down front-end Pride displays and move them to low-traffic areas of the store, items celebrating transgender Pride were removed, and the transgender-friendly swimsuits were removed from sale, Insider previously reported.
Target did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of normal working hours, about whether it anticipated lawsuits from shareholders over its Pride collection.