Amid Target Boycott, Elon Musk Sends A Dire Warning About Potential Lawsuits

Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, CEO of Tesla, and SpaceX gave a dire warning to Target and the retailer's board of directors in response to a tweet from Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk on Thursday. Speaking from a place of personal experience, Musk told them it "won't be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders," after the fallout of an ongoing conservative boycott finishes its damage sapping billions of dollars from the company's market capitalization.

As reported by The Daily Wire, JP Morgan downgraded Target's stock this week due to "recent company controversies" after a 23-year-long streak. JP Morgan also cited "too many concerns rising," from the company.

Target reportedly made "emergency" calls earlier in May to store managers and directors as it faced massive consumer backlash due to its 'Pride' collection of LGBTQ+ themed clothing, one item in particular that drew heavy criticism was a "tuck-friendly" female swimsuit, per Daily Wire.

Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023

"We call our customers ‘guests,’ there is outrage on their part. This year, it is just exponentially more than any other year," the Fox News source added. "I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation."

A Target spokesman told Fox News, "For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month." The representative claimed, "Since introducing this year’s collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing 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 LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year."

In February, Musk and Tesla successfully fought off a lawsuit from shareholders who argued that by tweeting in 2018 that because he had "funding secured" to take the electric carmaker private for $420 per share and that he had "confirmed" "investor support" for a deal which later didn't materialize, he had harmed them. As reported by CNBC, Tesla's stock trading was halted and was volatile for weeks after. Following the five-year-long legal saga, Musk is intimately familiar with backlash from shareholders and speaks from a place of experience. 

However, it is notable that in Target's situation, the retailer and its board of directors may not come away unscathed as Musk did. The company's recent LGBTQ+-related decisions could almost certainly be interpreted as a wilful provocation of a large swath of its customer base, with a predictable outcome.