Tamika Mallory defends Jay-Z ties to Target amid boycott backlash

Target’s June 26 release of a $40 white-vinyl 30th-anniversary edition of Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt has become another flashpoint in the retailer’s boycott fight, with critics saying it sends Black consumer spending back to a company still under pressure over its DEI rollback. For Target store teams, the release has meant another round of guest questions and tension at the front end.

The boycott began after Target rolled back major DEI initiatives in January 2025. Black women activists Tamika Mallory and Nina Turner, along with local Minneapolis organizers, turned it into a nationwide campaign. Target pledged in 2021 to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025, and its 2022 update put the company on track to meet that goal and showed more than doubling the number of Black-owned brands sold in stores. Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the Minnesota organizers, is still pressing Target over its $2.1 billion pledge to Black communities after George Floyd’s murder.

In March 2026, Rev. Jamal Bryant ended his faith-based Target fast after nearly 400 days and after talks with new CEO Michael Fiddelke, but Mallory and Turner said they were still not returning to Target and that the boycott was not over for many Black women. Target said in March 2026 that it was “more committed than ever” to growth and opportunity and that it was making no new commitments or reversals on its DEI policy.

Mallory’s defense of Jay-Z’s longtime Target relationship has drawn criticism because the artist’s exclusive release arrived while boycott organizers were still asking shoppers to stay away. Supporters say exclusive retail music deals are routine and that artists are not responsible for enforcing consumer boycotts. Critics counter that the special packaging and collectible inserts make the release a high-profile test for Black consumers.