Candace Owens Calls Transgender Identity a 'Lie' in Target Rant

Jun 01, 2023

Conservative commentator Candace Owens has branded transgenderism a "lie" in a video criticizing Target over the retailer's recently unveiled range of clothing and accessories for LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

Videos have been shared on social media showing items from the retailer's collection in recent weeks. One clip showed a T-shirt with the slogan "Trans people will always exist" and a baby garment featuring the words "Bien proud" in the colors of the LGBTQ+ flag. It included a rainbow neck-pillow, multi-colored fairy-lights as well as a trans flag.

There have also been photos that have been shared online of bathing suits sold at Target that include "tuck-friendly" tailoring and "extra crotch coverage."

Target's clothing collection for Pride Month—which takes place every June—has provoked outrage on social media, with calls for the retailer to receive "the Bud Light treatment."

Beer brand Bud Light has been embroiled in controversy since April, after it sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate her first year of transitioning to a woman. The move sparked calls for a boycott, and industry data shows sales of Bud Light have dramatically declined.

Owens—who previously called Target "an openly perverted company"—has now addressed the furor in the latest episode of her Daily Wire show.

She played a clip from former Target Vice-Chairman Gerald Storch's recent Fox News interview, in which he said that the inclusion the "tuck-friendly" swimwear was a "big mistake."

"What's actually taking place in these boardrooms?" Owens said after the clip. "[The swimsuit] is a very weird thing to have made it out of the boardrooms, to have made it through all the executives. They all agreed that this was a good idea. Like why do you need to lean into it this much? What's actually happening?"

She then spoke of Target's "very real history of being really the forefront of being supportive to the transgender movement," citing the company's transgender-friendly bathroom policy that was introduced in 2016.

Owens then went on to take aim at YouTube, suggesting that the video-sharing platform has been demonetizing videos that fail to respect the preferred pronouns of others in their content.

"Right now we are being squeezed by YouTube," she said. "This is the one thing that YouTube wants us to capitulate to, it is the gender movement. They want us to look at a little girl and say, 'No, you are a little boy,' and they want us to respect people's pronouns, which to me...is they are asking us to tell a lie right there. Saying, if you want to make money on this platform, you have to agree to this lie."

A former Target exec said that he has never seen a single product cause such a detrimental revenue loss for the company.He even asked the question that I've been asking, which is, "What is actually taking place in these board rooms?" pic.twitter.com/QR40kUJYBt

Newsweek reached out to representatives of Target and YouTube via email for comment.

"How is it that so many corporations and so many platforms and so many individuals with power are all pushing this exact same lie that represents such a small minority of the population?" Owens went on. "This isn't about love. It can't be about love, and it can't be about acceptance.

"Don't be so stupid as to believe it's about love, and it's about acceptance, and that Target really cares about a little child being feeling loved and accepted for every single word and phrase that they say. It is about something that is much more dangerous, something that is much more sinister."

"It is going to take people being courageous and people having the ability to realize that we must put firm lines in the sand," Owens added. "And if we allow them to violate this one, which is our children made susceptible to these lies, then they will have everything. There will be nothing left for us to stand up to. And I say that from my heart as a mother, who is just astonished at how far they have taken this ideology and how quickly and how deadly serious they are and threatening individuals that don't want to stand with it."

In May, Kayla Castaneda, a spokesperson for Target, told The Associated Press that its "tuck-friendly" swimsuits were not being sold in children's sizes.

"The 'tuck-friendly' swimsuits are for adults only," said Castaneda, who further confirmed that the children's swimsuits in its Pride collection are not of the same design or construction. They also do not have the same label, she said.

Target addressed the backlash when it revealed that a number of its employees had been facing threats from detractors.

"For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month," read the retailer's statement. "Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work.

"Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year."

Target has produced a range of items for Pride Month for a decade, according to the Daily Mail. As well as sponsoring a number of Pride events, Bud Light is among the five of America's 10 most popular beers to have LGBTQ+ partnerships.

As of Monday, Target's stock price had fallen 16 percent in the past month and roughly 18 percent over the past year.