The pastor behind a boycott of Target due to their decision to roll back DEI initiatives has a long history of associating with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and recently called black Trump supporters “coons” in a fiery speech.
Dr. Jamal Bryant, head of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, recently called for a 40-day “fast” from shopping at Target during the upcoming Lenten season, arguing that the company has “spit in the face” of black people by ending its commitment to DEI and joining a growing list of prominent companies to do so, including McDonald’s, Walmart and Ford.
“I want the stock to go down because we are standing in righteous indignation against racism and sexism in this nation,” Bryant said during his sermon calling for the fast.
“We are going to break the spirit of White entitlement. We are going to break the spirit of racism and sexism.”
In a Sunday sermon that went viral on social media over the weekend, Bryant said, “I feel bad for them coons in the White House who are in there tap dancing for massah, wearing bow ties shimmying and grinding, laughing like nothin’ is funny.”
Bryant also has a long history of praising Farrakhan, who has espoused antisemitic rhetoric dating back decades, including calling Jews “wicked” and comparing them to termites by saying he was “anti-termite.” Bryant interviewed the Nation of Islam leader in 2015 and said he is “one of the greatest leaders of our people.”
“We welcome to the Word Network and the entire world, the honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan! We’re honored to have you, sir,” Bryant said while introducing him. “I’m so appreciative to be able to mark in history that I lived in the same chasm of time as one of the greatest leaders of our people.”
In a tweet from 2019, Bryant said he was “humbled” to be in Farrakhan’s presence. His Twitter page has dozens of other tweets related to Farrakhan.
Bryant has also publicly been critical of the gay community, telling a congregation at the Baltimore Empowerment Temple in 2012 that “homosexuality is not the only sin, but it is a sin,” while adding that it is their “responsibility” to make gay people and other sinners “uncomfortable in [their] sin.”
Despite his past comments, Bryant has been embraced by liberal organizations, many of which have flocked to support the Target boycott and Bryant even made an appearance on the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris last year when she thanked him for his “leadership.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Bryant for comment.
“If they start losing $29 million a day for 40 days, we will break the back of the system,” Bryant said about the boycott, which is set to begin on March 5 and reportedly has at least 50,000 people who have signed an online pledge to take part.
