A mother on social media claims that she poses for a young girl with her father and contains the following text: ‘A man followed a young girl in a bathroom in a Target store in Gastonia and said that he as a woman. The man’s teeth were knocked out by the girl’s father, who says he identifies as the tooth fairies. Although the image of the father and daughter is genuine, the allegation that they were involved in an incident with Target is false. Reuters found no evidence of incidents consistent with this allegation located at any Target store.
Examples of postings that make this claim can be found here, here and here.
Although the reports may have been meant to be humorous, some Facebook users took the claim seriously and left comments such as “Go dad,” “A hero for sure !!!” and “I will knock teeth out of a man’s mouth when he follows my daughters in a bathroom! No!”
The father pictured in this meme is Gavin Gavlaarr Johnston, who went viral in 2015 after smiling at a photo of himself with his daughter while wearing a T-shirt with his picture without shirt and the words: “Stay Clear Boys, this is my dad! ‘(Here, here).
The Reuters Fact Check team reaches Johnston via a Facebook messenger, confirming that he and his daughter are indeed pictured in the newly distributed meme. Johnston, whose family lives in the UK, confirmed that the Target story did not happen to him and his daughter.
‘To be honest, I’m flipping through now because there are so many different variations and photos. “Well, my own fault because I went viral in the first place, I think lol,” Johnston told Reuters.
Similar memes using the image of Johnstons say that the alleged bathroom incident took place in a Target bathroom in Texas (here) as well as in the bathroom of an Asda supermarket in London, United Kingdom (here).
The Gastonia referred to in the meme is probably Gastonia, North Carolina, where there is a Target store (here). Target spokeswoman Jenna Reck told Reuters in an email that she had contacted the company’s security team, confirming that there had been no incident like this in a Gastonia Target.
As reported here by Business Insider, Target experienced boycott calls after a man exposed himself to a girl in the women’s bathroom in one of his stores in Chicago in 2018.
In a Facebook post (here), US evangelist Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, blamed the incident for Target’s bathroom policy, which since 2016 has allowed transgender team members and guests to use toilet or institution matches their gender identity (here). ”
WMAQ-TV, Chicago NBC, reported here that Target spokeswoman Danielle Schumann told the station at the time that the suspect was intoxicated. There is no indication that the man who allegedly exposed himself was transgender.
VERDICT
Untrue. The daughter and father shown in the meme were not involved in any incident related to a bathroom at Target or another store. No incidents similar to the one reported in the meme at Target stores near Gastonia, North Carolina, have been reported.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to verify social media posts at www.reuters.com/fact-check/about.
Update 10 February 2021: Target confirmation included in paragraph 8.