By Oliver Darcy | CNN
The Daily Wire, the right-wing media outlet co-founded by Ben Shapiro, said Friday that it had severed ties with Candace Owens, the far-right commentator who has ignited a torrent of backlash in recent months for her repeated embrace of antisemitic rhetoric.
“Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship,” Jeremy Boreing, the chief executive of Daily Wire, said in a statement posted online.
Owens confirmed the news in her own post, writing, “The rumors are true — I am finally free.”
Owens, a popular commentator notorious for promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories on a wide range of topics from vaccines to immigrants, joined The Daily Wire in 2021. The online outlet has stood by her over the years, despite her penchant for trafficking in extremist and dishonest rhetoric.
But since the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, Owens has repeatedly waded into antisemitic waters as she fiercely criticized Israel, suggesting the Jewish government was committing “genocide” in Gaza and claiming there is a sinister “small ring” of Jewish people in Hollywood and Washington, DC involved in something “quite sinister.”
In November, Shapiro, who is Jewish, called out Owens for her “disgraceful” rhetoric, blasting her “faux sophistication” on the topic.
Without directly naming Shapiro, Owens responded that one “cannot serve both God and money,” a brazen dig at The Daily Wire co-founder that was drenched in an age-old antisemitic trope.
At the time, Shapiro hit back, “Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit.”
Owens then attacked Shapiro in an interview with Tucker Carlson, the right-wing extremist who was fired last year from Fox News, accusing him of “ad hominem attacks.”
In recent days, Owens has continued to generate more controversy, liking a post on X in which a user accused a rabbi of being “drunk on Christian blood.”
Owens’ behavior earned her the praise of those pushing hatred of the Jewish community, which the Anti-Defamation League noted Thursday when it blasted her for pushing “an antisemitic agenda” and fueling “the fire of hate.”
Owens responded by accusing the ADL of having “turned their smear merchant guns” on her.
“Their attacks will have the opposite desired effect,” Owens said. “Awaken world.”
While Owens will no longer have a home at The Daily Wire, she still maintains a large platform. Her extremist commentary has catapulted her to fame in right-wing circles and she boasts millions of followers across her various social media accounts. In September, she was suspended from YouTube for her anti-LGBTQ commentary after violating the platform’s rules on hate speech.
Owens has long been a supporter of former President Donald Trump, amplifying his culture warrior rhetoric to her younger, online audience. “I truly believe that Donald Trump isn’t just the leader of the free world, but the savior of it as well,” she wrote in a social media post in 2018.
Last month, she was photographed with Trump at a UFC event in Las Vegas. “It’s fight night,” she wrote in a photo caption. “Fighters only.”
The Daily Wire’s slate of hosts are no stranger to controversy and have frequently promoted anti-LGBTQ themes and tropes. Matt Walsh, another extremist commentator employed by the Nashville-based company, has demonized gay and transgender people on his program, calling for doctors who perform gender affirming care to be imprisoned or executed.
