Target Pulls 'Satanic' Merch Off Shelves, Here's Why the Creator Says She's Glad It's Gone
The creator of Abprallen, the brand which was recently pulled from Target stores due to backlash, has expressed both disappointment and relief with Target’s decision.
Abprallen is an LGBT-themed brand owned by U.K.-based transgender designer Erik Carnell, a woman who identifies as a man.
Target first reached out to Carnell last year, and the designer provided the company with three products that the company approved of.
This included a messenger bag, a tote and a sweatshirt.
“I can now proudly announce that you can buy Abprallen in US Targets!” Carnell announced in an Instagram post on May 9.
The three products each included their own phrases: “Too Queer For Here,” “We Belong Everywhere” and “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People.”
These products are no longer being sold by Target due to public backlash over Abprallen’s other online products, which have drawn considerable pushback over their “satanic” messages.
It should be noted, however, that of Abprallen’s products placed in Target stores, none contained any wording about Satan.
Responding to the controversy, Carnell was relieved that Target dropped the line because of the threats the designer has been reportedly receiving, CNN reported.
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“The amount of backlash that I have gotten has been overwhelming,” Carnell told the outlet. “I just hope that this is the beginning of the end of the messages and the onslaught that I’m getting.”
Most of the backlash against Abprallen has been over an item that says “Satan respects pronouns.”
In an Instagram post promoting the design, Carnell described it as “one that gave Abprallen its proper footing and direction,” adding that the creation of the phrase “helped make Abprallen what it is today.”
“Satan loves you and respects who you are; you’re important and valuable in this world and you deserve to treat yourself with love and respect. LGBT+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God’s will, so fine. We’ll hang with Satan instead,” Carnell wrote.
The post continued, “Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean. So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love. So, naturally, Satan respects pronouns. He loves all LGBT+ people. I went with a variation of Baphomet for this design, a deity who themself is a mixture of genders, beings, ideas, and existences. They reject binary stereotypes and expectations.”
This design was never placed in Target, but it has still bolstered the ongoing boycott of the retail store over their partnership with the brand — a boycott that has already cost Target $9 billion, according to Fox Business.
Carnell acknowledged to CNN that the products were designed, knowing they were provoking, and dismissed the public’s response as “hatred towards LGBT people.”
“I’m not naive. I absolutely knew that there would be negativity thrown my way,” Carnell said.
Despite creating products with obviously Satanic-inspired designs, Carnell told the Daily Dot: “I don’t believe in Satan. I don’t believe in the Bible … It’s a metaphor.”
CORRECTION, May 29, 2023: Erik Carnell is a woman who identifies as a man. An earlier version of this article included an incorrect reference to her gender and misspelled her last name.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
