Who’s behind the well-orchestrated demonisation of Candace Owens

CANDACE Owen’s exposure of the lies peddled by the FBI and Utah authorities around the assassination of Charlie Kirk has won her enemies across the political spectrum – but particularly from those aligned to Trump and Israel.

Much of the criticism of Owens has come from the US evangelical community. For instance, Rob McCoy, quoted in a mid-September article in Premier Christian News who led the faith division of Kirk’s Turning Point USA, said Kirk “was a friend to Candace and never publicly spoke poorly of her, though he disagreed with her.”

He added this subtle put-down: “He never operated nor entertained gossip or innuendo concerning Candace. I only wish that at this tragic time of mourning she would be the friend to Charlie that he was to her.”

Pastor McCoy is the father of Mikey McCoy, Kirk’s chief of staff. Recent video has emerged of McCoy junior either taking or making a call on his phone at the very moment of Kirk’s assassination and casually walking away from the scene. It’s very strange.

The McCoys were among a long list of people who were around Kirk on the day or who were associated with him were detected by Google Search as the subjects of a major spike in online searches from Israel, Washington DC and the Cayman Islands on September 9, the day before the assassination.

The article went on to say Kirk, 31, was killed “in what prosecutors in Utah describe as a politically motivated attack”. Politically-motivated by who? one might ask.

“In the aftermath, Owens appeared to suggest, without evidence, that Israel could be in some way connected to the killing, and that financier Bill Ackman was pressuring Kirk to take a more pro-Israel stance.

“Both Ackman and Kirk’s show producer Andrew Kolvet strongly denied the claims, with Kolvet stating Kirk “personally told me he had a very cordial relationship with Bill and the event was productive.”

Kolvet, a well-heeled PR businessman who runs TPUSA’s media, later admitted to the full story, as texts between him and Kirk revealed the fractious break-up between Kirk and Jewish donors who were attempting to strong-arm him over who appeared on the stage. They didn’t want Tucker Carlson at TPUSA events but Kirk did.

Kolvet was also the person who spread the story sourced to the hospital surgeon that Kirk had “bones of steel” and that this meant some sort of miracle had taken place because he stopped the bullet hitting other people nearby. As noted by Owens no .3006 bullet was found in Kirk’s neck. Neither was she convinced by the miracle claim.

Kolvet, however, recently gave a more frank and open summary into what happened, although the topic of Kirk’s badly run investigation/cover-up by the FBI remains off topic for TPUSA.

And then there are the random Christians like GAgirl1967 who posted her quite bitchy anti-Candace rant on X. You can be assured Owens is being vilified in this woman’s Christian community, as she is in Christian communities as far afield as Australia.

And then there was Eric Bolling, a TPUSA board member and former Fox News guest commentator and businessman, who lied on PBD Podcast that Owens had not worked at TPUSA “for many years” (she toured for TPUSA in 2024) and “had a quiet break up with Kirk” because “she got too rabbit hole for him” – a comment that prompted a wide smile from Owens.

Bolling is somewhat in the “redneck right” camp, and is a long-time target of leftist journalists and others, much of it over his alleged crude messaging of Fox News female staff. But other critics of Owens are from the “sophisticated centre”, people like Colin Wright, editor of Reality’s Last Stand, an online journal “dedicated to free speech, science and reality”.

Wright posted on X: “Candace has always been bonkers. The fact that she has a top-ranking podcast is worrisome.” That brief slap down of Owens is sure to win him some from friends from the Jewish lobby.

Katherine Brodsky, a journalist and contributing editor of Skeptic, also chose the quick slap down. “Wow, she went full retard.” Hardly any sort of measured criticism but more kudos from the Jewish lobby …

Pro-Trump “social media influencer” Ian Miles Cheong had this to say: “Candace Owens just went off the rails again, claiming that if she stabbed Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel, she’s not sure they’d even bleed because they’re “hybrid droids” bringing in “demonic AI.” This is next-level unhinged.”

It sounds like Mr Miles Cheong, since all respectable pro-Trumpers were doing it, found himself duty-bound to also have a shot at Owens, so he picked on one of her off-the-cuff jibes to call it “next-level unhinged”. A cheap shot, but no doubt Uncle Donald will be looking down favourably upon him.

Another “sophisticated” Owens critic is Ken Cornia, a businessman and “former government director” – he doesn’t mention which government department.

“No one understands the ‘Dark Side of Social Media Monetization’ better than Candace Owens, as her milking of Charlie Kirks’ death has ranked her high on Spotify,” says Cornia, suggesting that social media ranking was the motivation for Kirk’s very close friend.

“Candace is internationally known for her conspiracy theories as she has been sued by French President Macron for claiming his wife is biologically male, but her Charlie Kirk theories started gaining ground as she revealed that Charlie Kirk was under pressure from Jewish donors.

“Owens’ history of perpetuating negative bias sadly includes antisemitism She won the ‘Antisemite of the Year’ award from the US-based advocacy group StopAntisemitism.” We wonder if there perhaps should be an Anti-Gentile of the Year Award?

“Candace was denied entry in NZ & she’s barred from entering Australia & must pay legal fees to Australia, citing her remarks regarding the Holocaust. Owens called accounts of Josef Mengele’s Nazi experiments on twins “bizarre propaganda”.

“Her more antisemitic claims are her beliefs that Israel was involved in 9/11 (Cairns News: they most certainly were) and she’s convinced that Tyler Robinson did not kill Kirk and that there was Israeli influence.”

If Cornia thinks he’s exposing something, he’s seriously misguided. He’s merely stating the obvious. Of course there was Israeli influence, right up until the days before Kirk died, involving a personal phone call with Bibi Netanyahu.

Cornia then puts the boot in: “Owen’s dissemination of Josh Hammer and Kirk’s messages was seen by many, including Hammer, as a way to tie him to Kirk’s death, and even suggest that Hammer was somehow complicit or responsible for the act.

“Josh noted 13 Oct on X that he was ‘offline last week for a Jewish holiday’ and ‘came back online to see a well-known mental patient accuse me of complicity in a friend’s murder’.

“Hammer is considering taking legal actions against Owens, which could pile on to the legal battle she is already fighting with French President Emmanuel Macron over claims that his wife Brigitte was born a biological male.”

Cornia goes on to defend Hammer’s lie that Kirk remained a close and loyal friend of Israel right up until the time of his death.

“The power of social media coupled with the vast reach of the internet, enable negative bias peddlers like Owens to perpetuate their cynical views and personal agendas of negative bias to every corner of the world and to disingenously do so for monetization,” Cornia concluded, failing again to mention Owens and Kirk’s close friendship.

The previously referenced Premier Christian News uncritically quoted the overtly anti-Christian ADL: “The Anti-Defamation League reported over 10,000 social media posts spreading the false claim that “Israel killed Charlie Kirk” in the first two days after his death.”

The ADL predictably listed the following “key points” about Owens:

• Candace Owens is a right-wing public figure and political commentator who has come to embrace and promote antisemitic tropes and anti-Israel rhetoric.
• She also espouses conspiracy theories related to the LGBTQ+ community and has downplayed the impact of slavery and racism on the Black community.
• Owens began gaining recognition in 2016-2017 as a MAGA supporter and critic of the Black Lives Matter movement.
• She developed a large following while working for Turning Point USA, and later the Daily Wire, a conservative outlet co-founded by Ben Shapiro.
• She departed the Daily Wire following escalating antisemitic rhetoric and public disagreement with Shapiro.
• Owens has millions of followers on various social media outlets, including YouTube, X and Instagram, as well as her own podcast.