Target Faces Backlash Over ‘Pride’ Collection Designer Behind ‘Satan Respects Pronouns’ Shirts

Target is facing backlash over a designer featured in the company’s “Pride” collection who appears to have created products with Satanic imagery.

Scarlett Johnson, an activist from Wisconsin, went viral on Twitter this weekend with a thread explaining why she is “done” with the retailer. In particular, Johnson took issue with Target listing three items on its online store from Abprallen, a London-based designer of products that sometimes mix imagery and messages about gender with the macabre.

None of the three colorful apparel items for sale under the Abprallen label on Target’s website have Satanic imagery. The catalogue includes a “We Belong Everywhere” mini messenger bag for $18, another is a “Too Queer for Here” tote bag for $18, and a third is a “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People” sweatshirt for $25. All are listed under “Pride Adult Clothing.”

But Johnson highlighted other products for sale that are shown on the Abprallen website and associated Instagram account with about 25,000 followers. Among them is a skeleton draped in rainbow colors, a “Trans Witches For Abortion” badge, and a “Satan respects pronouns” T-shirt.

Why did @target hire a Satanist to design pieces for their recent "Pride" clothing line?

WTF👉🏽"Satan loves you and respects who you are… LGBTQIA+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God's will, so fine. We'll hang with Satan instead." pic.twitter.com/FLsNZNzHNa

— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) May 20, 2023

Johnson’s thread has been retweeted thousands of times since it began on Saturday, with many users criticizing Target and some even calling for a boycott. Others complimented the products and questioned why Johnson had a problem with the designer’s work.

The Daily Wire reached out to the retailer seeking comment on the situation.

The product page for the “Satan respects pronouns” shirt talks about how LGBT+ people are “so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God’s will” while making the case that the Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple are more accepting of the gay community.

“Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean. So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love,” the page says. “So, naturally, Satan respects pronouns. He loves all LGBT+ people.”

Abprallen, according to its “My Story” page, is run by gay trans man named Erik who has a penchant for juxtaposing pastel colors with “spooky things.” The designer’s Instagram account posted in recent weeks about how Abprallen products are being sold by Target after “they approached me to design a range for Pride.”

Even before Johnson’s thread went viral, Target was facing controversy over “tuck-friendly” swimwear for children, as reported by The New York Post, leading some to suggest the retailer would face a wave of backlash akin to the Bud Light controversy over its partnership with self-identified transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

‘I Definitely Want To Stand’: Brittney Griner Sees U.S. Flag And Anthem Differently After Russian Imprisonment

WNBA player Brittney Griner says her time in a Russian prison has changed her perspective on the American flag and the national anthem: after promising to protest the traditional pregame anthem in 2020, she said this season she is ready to stand.

The Phoenix Mercury star center spent nearly ten months imprisoned in Russia after she was caught in February of 2022 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport — while traveling to play basketball — with cannabis oil in vape canisters. She was returned to the United States after President Joe Biden’s administration agreed to trade convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to secure her freedom.

When she was finally able to return to play basketball, however, she said that the national anthem “hit different” than it had before her arrest. She explained that while she would never tell others that they should not protest in whatever way they saw fit, she was ready to stand for the anthem when it played.

“You have the right to protest, the right to able to speak out, question, challenge and do all these things. What I went through and everything, it just means a little bit more to me now. So I want to be able to stand. I was literally in a cage [in Russia] and could not stand the way I wanted to,” she explained to ESPN.

“Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely want to stand. Now everybody that will not stand or not come out, I totally support them 100 percent. That’s our right, as an American in this great country.”

“I appreciate everything a little bit more, all of the small moments, like, ‘Oh, I’m so tired I don’t want to go to practice today,’ that has changed, honestly. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, you don’t know what it’s going to look like. I feel a lot older somehow, too,” she said.

Griner had opted not to stand for the anthem in 2020, saying that if the league continued to play it prior to every game, she simply would not come out to the court until it was over.