CNN Panel Goes Off on Target for ‘Racist’ Kids Halloween Costume: ‘Result’ of Trump’s Assault on DEI

The full panel on CNN’s First of All on Saturday slammed Target for putting out what they all agreed was a “racist” Halloween costume, with host Victor Blackwell saying the kids clown costume was being bashed by many online for being “reminiscent of 19th Century minstrelsy.”

CNN then did a side-by-side comparison of the costume and an old photo of a White man performing in blackface makeup. The costume showed a young Black kid holding his hands up in the black-and-orange costume, which included an exaggerated smile on a mask which covered up part of the child’s face.

“It’s hard to deny the comparison,” Blackwell said.

His panelists agreed.

Edward Ahmed MitchellC, an attorney and director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said this was a “result” of Target ditching its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs because it was “under pressure” from President Donald Trump’s administration.

“The fact that no one in Target saw that image and said this is a bad idea, that it got all the way to being sold, indicates a failure within Target,” he said. “And that’s why there’s value in having diversity in corporations, there’s value in having these programs, to make sure you’re understanding the sensitivities. Because that — that is unacceptable.”

Bossip columnist Jason “Jah” Lee said Mitchell was spot on.

He said it was “unfortunate” Target’s employees couldn’t figure out the costume — which was pulled last week after the public backlash — was offensive because “White people have been taught” what’s racist for “a long, long time,” therefore they shouldn’t need their Black coworkers to keep them in check.

“It just begs the question: are you even trying? Are you even trying to understand the things that people point out that they say are offensive and racist?” Lee said. “I know that they don’t like the idea that anything can be racist — nothing can be racist nowadays,” to White people, presumably.

Right-wing pundit Janelle King added she thought it was “rage bait” when she first heard about the story, because she said it was “pretty obvious” it was racist by looking at it. King said it was more sinister than just the costume too, it was also about how the child was posing in the picture; she said it left no doubt there was an attempt to harken back to minstrel shows.

“It tells me that you did do some research, you knew what you were doing,” she said.

Watch above via CNN.

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