Target pulls Washington Redskins merchandise from its online stores
Major retailer Target has pulled Washington Redskins merchandise from its online store as the NFL team faces renewed pressure from investors who oppose the name's racist connotations.
Posted — Updated"We are in the process of removing the items from our assortment," Target said in a statement on Monday.
The Redskins announced Friday that the team will review its name, prompting a few major retailers to remove merchandise from online stores.
Walmart tweeted on Friday it was "discontinuing the sale of items that reference the team's name and logo." Nike had also pulled Redskins merchandise from its online store.
The moves come after 100 investment groups wrote letters to Nike, Pepsi, and FedEx—who are sponsors of the NFL team—asking them to end their relationship with the Redskins if the team won't change its name.
"We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name," FedEx told CNN Business in a statement on Friday after the Redskins' announcement.
PepsiCo echoed that in its own statement: "We have been in conversations with the NFL and Washington management for a few weeks about this issue. We believe it is time for a change. We are pleased to see the steps the team announced today, and we look forward to continued partnership."
The investor letter to FedEx said "Redskins" remains a "de-humanizing word characterizing people by skin color and a racial slur with hateful connotations, adding that "virtually every major national American Indian organization has denounced use of Indian and Native related images, names and symbols disparaging or offending American Indian peoples, with over 2,000 academic institutions eliminating 'Indian' sports references."
Copyright 2023 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
