Big-box retailer Target, which famously scaled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in 2025, has pulled an offensive Halloween costume from its website and apologized after heavy backlash. The costume, labeled “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume Bodysuit”, was being sold for $25.
“Critics have argued that the costume’s appearance, along with the promotional images used to market it, evoked historical blackface caricatures and minstrel-show imagery.“
Costume in a tweet under the cut, TW for racist caricatures:
Doubt @Target never would have made the disastrous decision to market a Halloween costume that looks like it’s straight out of the Jim Crow era if Black folks had a seat at the table.
Anyway, looks like they pulled it. pic.twitter.com/lF79v4yePf
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) August 23, 2026
Sources: 1, 2, 3
