A conservative blogger says he has managed to force US’s second-largest retailer to change the photo for a Black Panther costume so that the model kid didn’t look white.

In case you’ve missed the entire ‘Black Panther only for black kids’ debate, here it is. When the Marvel superhero movie was released in January, it was both a major commercial success and a cultural event for many people. After all, it featured a predominantly black cast, borrowed heavily from African cultures for its setting and its core conflict was about how to best deal with the toxic legacy of black slavery and racism in the US.

But for some people the flick’s popularity posed a very peculiar question – is it appropriate for parents of white children to allow them to wear a Black Panther costume for Halloween. Not a simple question to answer in a country, where questioning the blackface taboo can cost a career. For what it’s worth, some of the character’s creators said, hell, yes, let the kids have fun.

So here comes Halloween, and Mark Dice, a popular conservative video blogger decides it’s time to do some trolling of retail chains selling Black Panther costumes. Nothing spells trouble for a business as a specter of an angry mob of social justice warriors demanding to stop cultural appropriation of Wakanda. Dice faked an outrage campaign over Target, the second-biggest retailers in America.

@Target Why is this WHITE boy pictured wearing a BLACK PANTHER costume on your website? This is BLACK ERASURE! POC finally have a super hero of their own, and you disrespect them by using a white person to promote the costume? SHAMEFUL! BOYCOTT! 😠https://t.co/a2XzMlBfidpic.twitter.com/MC0enyTKva — Mark Dice (@MarkDice) October 26, 2018

And apparently his trolling worked. At least now Dice gloats about fooling the network into having only black models wearing Black Panther costumes…

They fell for it. They took it down. Now only black boys are shown wearing it. 😆 https://t.co/JZTzd8x0Wh — Mark Dice (@MarkDice) October 31, 2018

Thank you @Target for removing the photo of the white boy modeling the Black Panther costume from your website. Cultural appropriation is wrong! What kind of a society allows white children to dress up as their favorite super heroes if they're black? 😂 IDIOTS! pic.twitter.com/QcD0xzhEg0 — Mark Dice (@MarkDice) November 1, 2018

Just black kids now. The world is a better place tonight. 😂 pic.twitter.com/35FNVvpiRD — Mark Dice (@MarkDice) November 1, 2018

…and is trying to bait Walmart into doing the same thing. At the moment of the writing, Walmart’s product page remained unchanged.

Excuse me @Walmart! Why is this WHITE boy pictured wearing a BLACK PANTHER costume on your website? This is a BLACKS ONLY costume! Finally they have a super hero of their own, & you disrespect them by using a white person to promote it? BOYCOTT! 😠 https://t.co/1TFM3mBCxcpic.twitter.com/V7mlG7Ptme — Mark Dice (@MarkDice) October 31, 2018

RT has requested Target Corporation for comments about Dice’s claim.

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