After catching much backlash for ending his “Target Fast,” Pastor Jamal Bryant is now apologizing for ”being out of touch,” and he applauds the original “Target Boycott” leaders. He also confirms that he has “not been compensated” by the company that famously dropped its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program once President Donald Trump took office.
As a refresher the protests against Target began in early 2025. Other stores who notably dropped their DEI programs also faced immense and intense backlash.
It was first organized by Minneapolis, Minnesota organizers that include: civil rights lawyer and activist Dr. Nekima Levy Armstrong; Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars-Doty; and Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN). Additional activists joining in to lead the movement were Nina Turner and Tamika Mallory.
As their Target boycott gained local and national attention, Atlanta, Georgia-based Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant started his own protest. It began as a 40-day “Target fast” during the season of Lent. He urged Black Christians to refrain from shopping at Target and other DEI-less stores.
RELATED: Target Faces Foot Traffic Decline For The Eighth Week After Cutting Off DEI Programs
Pastor Jamal Bryant Backtracks After Ending His ‘Target Fast’ Prompted By The Company Dropping DEI
On March 11, 2026, Pastor Jamal Bryant took to his Instagram and declared his “Target fast” was over. He wrote:
“It’s been a journey. At noon we will be giving an update on the @targetfast40 ….This has been the most sustained effective boycott by our people since the Montgomery bus boycott.”
Several social users began slamming the pastor, calling him out for falsely claiming the end of the Target boycotts. Two days later, he took to his show, ‘The Jamal Bryant Podcast: ‘Let’s Be Clear,’ and apologized for his abrupt, misguided, and overlapping announcement. He told his listeners:
“The target fast that began the first week of March of 2025 was just to go 40 days, from Ash Wednesday to Easter. And in so doing, we understood out of the footprint and the blueprint of the Civil Rights Movement that power concedes nothing without a demand, so says Frederick Douglass.
And so we asked for four things. We asked that there would be a reimagining of DEI. We asked that there would be a redress around the inclusion of HBCUs in partnership. We asked that there would be a funding in Black banks. And we asked that there will be an honoring of the commitment of $2 billion for George Floyd that was pledged after his murder.
300,000 of you signed up at ‘Target Fast’ and said we’re going to be a part of this movement for 40 days. 40 days came and gone, and yet you stuck in there. You held to the commitment, you didn’t waver, you kept driving, and you didn’t go in. I want to take a moment and personally thank you. We’ve had an amazing impact, this generation has, on a Fortune 500 company that so many people thought was too big to fail.
‘Target Fast’ was just a strategy and a tactic of the ‘Target Boycott.’ It was not to take its place. Boycotts are in fact riddled with a demand. But I wanted you to know that I’ve heard your emphatic outcry. That it wasn’t just about those four, but Target in the community’s estimation was a prime candidate for cancellation. Saying no matter what happened, you were not going back.
I was reading from a different sheet of music. I made assumptions that were not true. And I wanted to apologize to you for being a leader that was out of touch with what it is that the community wanted, and sensed what it is that the community were demanding. It’s much greater than those four, and I’ve heard you, overwhelmingly so. And not having a good read of the room, I take full responsibility of.”
Pastor Jamal Bryant Applauds Black Women Who Pioneered Target Boycott Prompted By The Company Dropping DEI
While continuing to speak to his listeners, Pastor Jamal Bryant applauded the many Black women who pioneered the “Target Boycotts” last year. He made mention of Nekima Levy Armstrong, Nina Turner, and Tamika Mallory. He insisted that he in no way meant to step on their toes or take their shine.
“I wanted to give redress to some things, and I hope that you’ll lend me the time to do it. I am the son of a pioneering womanist theologian, the late Dr. Cecilia Bryant. I am the brother of an amazingly brilliant sister psychologist, Dr. Thema Bryant. I am the husband of a brilliant and insightful prophetic witness, and Dr. Kerri Bryant. I am surrounded by brilliant, beautiful Black women. And so in no ounce of my bones or blood would I ever try to co-opt what it is that Black women are building.
Just a week ago, when I had the humbling opportunity to speak at Reverend [Jesse] Jackson‘s funeral, in my remarks, I said that we’ve got to let Black women lead. And that can find itself in all truth, even when it comes to this movement. Publicly, privately, to the press, and in conversation, I have heralded out loud the remarkable leadership of Attorney Nekima, Representative Nina, and Sister Soldier Tamika Mallory. I think that they are incredible leaders, and I don’t want history to record that I tried to stand in the way of the leadership of warrior women. I absolutely tip my hat to them for their innovation, for their courage, for their passion, and their fire.
It was my intention then, as it is now, to walk alongside them, but to never walk in front of them. Let the record reflect and show that it was Black women that started this movement. It was Black women who were at the helm. It has been my privilege to stand alongside them.
Some of the murky confusion that has taken place is that we have interchangeably used the ‘Target Fast’ with the ‘Target Boycott.’ Two different things, two different entities, but it is a train connected to the same wagon. Our intention was just to go 40 days. And so when I made the declaration that the ‘Target Fast’ was over, it was mixed mingled with the ‘Target Boycott’ at large. I should’ve lent greater clarity to that. The 40 days went to 365.”
RELATED: Target CEO Brian Cornell Will Step Down After 11 Years As Sales Continue To Plunge
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!