As Target’s stock slides following a downgrade Thursday by one of Wall Street’s biggest banks, a designer caught up in the conservative campaign against the retailer is speaking out and denying accusations from activists that he is a so-called “Satanist.”

In a note to investors Thursday, JP Morgan downgraded Target’s stock to a “neutral” outlook from “overweight,” reflecting a more bearish outlook for the stock’s performance over the next year. The company has seen $13 billion shaved off its market capitalization since mid-May when the retailer issued a sub-par earnings forecast and protests arose over the store’s promotion of pride-related merchandise.

Retail analysts cite lackluster performance in recent months and poorly received guidance for the next year as the initial reason for the drop, but say that the drop was likely made steeper by the pride month related protests.

As of Thursday afternoon, Target’s stock was trading at a little under $130 a share, down from about $160 a share on May 17, when the retailer announced its quarterly earnings. That’s a decline of roughly 20 percent.

In general, retailers have been struggling this year with one of Target’s competitors, Macy’s, seeing its shares drop in value and its outlook decline in recent days. Dollar General has also seen its performance projections decline.

A top Walmart executive has taken note of what’s happening at Target and the backlash against the company for caving to conservative protests, promising to stand by its own promotion of pride merchandise.

“We have merchandise that we sell all year that supports different groups,” Walmart’s chief merchandising officer, Latriece Watkins, told reporters Wednesday. “In this particular case, we haven’t changed anything in our assortment.”

Target has been criticized, first by conservatives because of later debunked claims that the retailer was marketing transgender accommodating products toward children, and subsequently by LGBTQ advocates, who have accused the company of caving to pressure and practicing “rainbow capitalism” only when there’s no resistance.

A transgender designer whose designs often combine edgy messaging with colorful aesthetics, Erik Carnell, has found himself at the center of the firestorm generated by American conservatives against the retailer.

Although Mr. Carnell has sold Satan-themed merchandise in other venues, conservative activists online claimed that Target was marketing Satan-themed designs to children and some claimed that Mr. Carnell himself is a Satanist.

In reality, however, Target didn’t carry any of Mr. Carnell’s Satan-themed designs. The chain sold merchandise with less edgy messaging. One hoodie read “cure transphobia not trans people.” Another design said “too queer for here” and another reads “we belong everywhere.”

Mr. Carnell’s design brand, Abprallen, does sell some merchandise with edgier messaging, sometimes containing religious imagery. One post on Abprallen’s instagram explained “Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty.”

One image sometimes used by the Church of Satan and other esoteric groups is the Sigil of Baphomet as well as the image of Baphomet, a religious figure at one point associated with the Knights Templar.

One reason Baphomet is used by some in the LGBTQ community, including Mr. Carnell, is because Baphomet has been used by the American Satanic Temple to test whether laws surrounding religious liberty are equally applied. Baphomet is also typically depicted as having features of both men and women.

Mr. Carnell told the Washington Post that using Satanic symbols like Baphomet is “no different to people reclaiming slurs and trying to remove the power from it to try and use it to benefit them.”

He also confirmed to the Post that “I don’t believe in Satan,” adding that “If I believed in Satan, I’d have to believe in the Bible — and I consider myself an atheist.”

Mr. Carnell spoke with the Daily Mail concerning what he characterized as a “hate campaign” against him from conservative American activists.

“Last week I started noticing that there was an influx of videos being made by the Christian right in the United States who were taking pictures from my instagram and from my web store and claiming that that was being launched in Target,” Mr. Carnell said.

“There were right wing publications like Breitbart and the Daily Wire who were writing articles accusing me of being a Satanist,” he added.

One Daily Wire headline reads “Target Was Aware Of Satanic Imagery Before ‘Pride’ Collection Deal, Controversial Artist Claims,” for example.

Mr. Carnell said that since becoming the target of conservative publications “I’ve received hundreds of hate messages. I’ve received death threats. I’ve received very detailed descriptions of violence.”

Mr. Carnell also criticized Target for embracing “rainbow capitalism” only when it was easy and refusing to stand by their marketing once activists began harassing employees and disrupting stores.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Target is aware that I am a targeted victim in a hate campaign,” he said. “They haven’t even reached out to make sure that I’m okay.”

According to Target, “threats” from activists were “impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work.” Target’s decision to pull some merchandise and rearrange stores drew criticism from LGBTQ allies and politicians, like Governor Newsom.