What To Know About Candace Owens' History Of Controversy As ...

23 Mar 2024

Forbes

Topline

Controversial public figure Candace Owens has said she is "finally free" after the Daily Wire, a conservative news website for which she has hosted a weekly show for years, announced Friday it parted ways with her after months of tension between Owens and website co-founder Ben Shapiro.

Candace Owens is seen on set of "Candace" on Oct. 8, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Getty Images Key Facts

Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing posted to X on Friday that the website and Owens have "ended their relationship," a message quickly followed by Owen's own post confirming the "rumors are true" and teasing "many announcements in the weeks to come."

The announcement comes after months of infighting at the Daily Wire that went public in November as Shapiro and Owens traded insults online spurred by their differing views on the Israel-Hamas war.

Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, has been a staunch supporter of Israel amid the war while Owens has lashed out against "political Jews,” accusing them of fueling antisemitism, and supported conspiracy theories that “secret Jewish gangs” are responsible for “horrific acts” against people in Hollywood.

Owens has in the past defended rapper Kanye West—whose career was derailed in 2022 after he made antisemitic comments—and defended actions of Adolf Hitler in the name of nationalism.

On Wednesday, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes supported Owens in her "full-fledged war against the Jews" and said, “This is the face of a total Jewish defeat… We f—ing got your back, Candace… They're filth.”

The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday called Owens and Fuentes "bigoted" and accused her of fueling "the fire of hate" with her "vitriolic antisemitism."

What To Watch For

Owens said Friday she would be bringing her show back to YouTube after a "brief hiatus."

Key Background

Owens has been a conservative since 2017 after her idea to launch a website exposing those who harass others online was panned by critics on both sides of the aisle. That year, she said she "became a conservative overnight" after realizing "liberals were actually racists." From there, she became a popular voice of Black conservatives on YouTube and started social media accounts where she posted controversial videos that attracted the attention of people like Jesse Watters of Fox News; Alex Jones, who famously spread rumors the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax; and West, who tweeted he loves “the way Candace Owens thinks.” She founded an organization in 2018 called the "Blexit Foundation" to encourage Black people to leave the Democratic party. In 2021, she launched a podcast and video show "Candace" with the Daily Wire, and has hosted guests including former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and former White House strategist Steve Bannon. Since her rise to fame, Owens has repeatedly been at the center of controversy. She was criticized for tweeting that "Russian Lives Matter" following the nation's invasion of Ukraine, has been openly critical of feminism and called the Walt Disney Company "child groomers and pedophiles" after it opposed Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill. Owens has been an outspoken critic of the Black Lives Matter movement, famously posing with Kanye West in a "White Lives Matter” shirt during Paris Fashion Week in 2022. That same year, she wrote, directed and produced a film called "The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM." The documentary-style film claimed that George Floyd died of an overdose, not at the hands of a white police officer.

Surprising Fact

Owens once sued the Stamford, Connecticut school board after she was the victim of racist threats in high school, which allegedly were made by the son of then-Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy. He went on to be Connecticut's governor. Owens’ family sued the school board for failing to protect her and won a $37,500 settlement, according to the Connecticut Post.