Candace Owens Reveals What Really Happened After Leaving The DailyWire+ and Her Defamation Claims
Enjoying this? Share it with someone who needs to see it.
Up Next
Megyn Kelly and Charlie Kirk Confront Backlash From Pro-Israel Allies Over Nuanced Criticisms
17:36
Dennis Prager on His New Book If There Is No God and the Battle Over Good and Evil
42:55
George Galloway Examines Israeli Motive in Charlie Kirk Assassination Amid Growing Conservative Shift on Israel
38:00
Candace Owens Reveals What Really Happened After Leaving The DailyWire+ and Her Defamation Claims
Candace Owens breaks her silence on her departure from The DailyWire+, addressing accusations of anti-Semitism from Andrew Klaven and Ben Shapiro's response. Bound by contractual limitations while her former colleagues speak freely, Owens defends her use of the phrase "Christ is King," challenges what she calls revisionist history, and explains her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict. She questions why journalists fear critiquing Israel, discusses the persecution of Christians worldwide, and argues that her grandfather's legacy compels her to defend her name against what she considers defamatory attacks.
June 12, 2024
The Circumstances of Her DailyWire+ Departure
Candace Owens finds herself in a peculiar position regarding her exit from The DailyWire+. While unable to discuss the specific reasons for her departure due to contractual obligations, she can respond to what was publicly stated about her leaving. Almost immediately after the agreement to part ways, DailyWire+ host Andrew Klaven dedicated an entire episode to explaining that Owens was leaving because she was engaging in anti-Semitism that was "hard to pin down."
This accusation prompted Owens to respond forcefully in her first independent podcast episode. She describes Klaven's tactics as "despicable," particularly given their previously strong professional relationship and the fact that she was contractually prevented from defending herself. "I think it's pretty despicable first and foremost as a colleague who I had a great relationship with to have engaged in that knowing that I was not at Liberty to say anything," Owens explains. "I thought it was a very underhanded disgusting tactic."
Ben Shapiro's Response and the Free Speech Debate
When pressed about the situation, DailyWire+ co-founder Ben Shapiro declined to provide details, stating he is "not in a hiring and firing position" despite being a co-founder and co-owner. He drew a distinction between publishers and platforms, arguing that "no company has the obligation to literally pay anyone."
Owens finds this position contradictory to Shapiro's previous statements on cancel culture and free speech. "I know that he's made some comments in the past that he believes that Publishers platforms should allow people to have different ideas and so those particular comments to me sound in contrast to what he has said in the past," she notes. She personally believes media companies are healthier when they allow diverse opinions and open debate.
The situation creates what Owens sees as a troubling double standard: "What is wrong if CNN fires somebody for having a different opinion? What then is wrong if Fox News fires somebody for having a different opinion? Your answer would have to be that it's not wrong and that companies are at will to curate whatever belief system that they want and to not allow free speech."
The NDA Asymmetry
Owens cannot confirm or deny whether she signed a non-disclosure agreement, stating simply: "I am not free to speak about any topic pertaining to contracts signed or not signed." This creates what she and her interviewer both acknowledge as a fundamentally unfair situation where DailyWire+ personalities can make explicit accusations while she cannot fully defend herself.
"Amen Piers, amen," Owens responds when this imbalance is pointed out. "I think that is probably a question that was on a lot of people's minds." She references Kanye West's complaints about contracts, adding: "I think it is even if you believe that it is valid for that to happen I think it is immoral to allow someone to attack someone and to not allow them to defend their name."
Accusations of Defamation
Owens believes Andrew Klaven crossed the line from criticism into defamation by claiming she said things she never said. She cites a specific example where Klaven "flagrantly lies" by suggesting she did an episode supporting Adolf Hitler burning books. "I wasn't even speaking about Adolf Hitler," Owens clarifies. "It's a nonsense to think that I would do that on my platform and it's a trick also it's meant to make people feel emotional."
For Owens, defending her reputation connects to her family legacy. Her grandfather, Robert Owen Senior, grew up on a sharecropping farm as one of 12 children in the segregated South. "For him to have worked the way that he worked and to have instilled the Christian values in me that he instilled In Me growing up the idea that I would allow someone to so flagrantly throw dirt on his name it was never going to fly," she says.
The "Christ is King" Controversy
Much attention focused on Owens repeatedly using the phrase "Christ is King," which some interpreted as deliberately provocative toward Jewish people, particularly during the heightened tensions of the Israel-Hamas war. Owens provides detailed context for when this became controversial.
She posted a standalone Bible verse calling for peace in November 2023, ending it with "Christ is King." This occurred after Ben Shapiro was caught on tape calling her "faux sophisticated" and "a disgrace" when she was 38 weeks pregnant. Rather than respond to the media frenzy, her husband advised her to read the Bible and find peace.
"I wanted to respond to all of these media members by saying that I'm calling for peace," Owens explains. "Christ is King of my heart I don't need this right now." She points out that Andrew Klaven then did an episode titled "Because Christ is Really King" and falsely accused her of "spitting that phrase at a Jew," which she says "simply never happened."
On the question of whether her use of the phrase could be construed as anti-Semitic, Owens draws a distinction between feelings and facts: "A feeling and a fact are two different things. Factually speaking I have never said anything that is anti-Semitic and had I have said something that was anti-semitic Andrew claven would have simply showed the clip right."
Her Position on Israel and Gaza
Owens's commentary on the Israel-Hamas conflict became another flashpoint. On November 3, 2023, she tweeted: "No government anywhere has a right to commit a genocide ever there is no justification for a genocide." While many assumed she was referring to Israel's actions in Gaza, Owens clarifies she was actually responding to Congressman Brian Mast, who had said "there's no such thing as an innocent Palestinian life."
"That is Despicable genocidal language," Owens states. She adds that even if she had been talking about Israel or Palestine, the statement should be uncontroversial: "There is no justification for genocide. I was very surprised to see that tweet go viral and people so angry about it."
When pressed on whether Israel's actions constitute genocide, Owens turns the question around: "All of the people that are pro-Israel and say it's not a genocide won't tell me what is a genocide. How many, what percentage of a population has to be killed before we can use the word genocide?" She says she asked Rabbi Michael Barclay this question directly on her show but never received a clear answer.
What Owens will state definitively is her position on civilian casualties: "I am completely uncomfortable and utterly against the amount of Palestinian innocent lives that have been lost in this conflict particularly children and any person who is fearful of stating that the death of innocent children has been utterly unacceptable is a coward."
She criticizes Israel's military actions, particularly regarding hospitals, schools, and UN buildings, and the decision to target Hamas in Rafah refugee camp. "The Israeli government is not being careful in how they're dealing with this," she argues. She opposes Benjamin Netanyahu receiving an invitation to Congress, calling it "unacceptable."
America's Role and Economic Concerns
Owens takes a consistent isolationist position, arguing America should not be involved in Israel whatsoever. "I do not want my dollar sent over to Israel. We should not be supporting Israel," she states, citing Thomas Massie's work showing the economic irrationality of sending money abroad while carrying massive debt.
She questions what she sees as a special treatment of Israel in media and politics, pointing to Israel supplying arms to Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia, "the oldest Christian country in the world." This inconsistency troubles her: "It seems to be the circumstance that when Jewish people die in Israel it's wall-to-wall coverage but when Christians die all over the world nobody talks about it."
Media Fear of Critiquing Israel
Owens directly challenges what she perceives as journalistic fear around critiquing Israel: "When it comes to the topic of Israel it does seem that journalists are fearful to critique Israel. Why is that?" She even turns this question on her interviewer, suggesting he too seems "a little fearful to critique Israel and to want to always seem that you're coming across a little bit understanding of everything they're doing."
This observation leads to a broader question: "What is it that makes journalists fearful of saying hey you know Israel has done a ton of things that have been very wrong?"
The Silence on October 7th
Critics noted that Owens didn't tweet about the October 7th Hamas terror attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and wounded nearly 7,000 more. Owens responds that she doesn't typically comment on foreign affairs and that her interviewer was only examining her Twitter feed. "I'm also on Facebook I'm also on Instagram I also had a daily podcast in which I did respond directly about what happened and called the events horrific multiple times," she clarifies.
Christian Persecution Worldwide
For Owens, the conversation keeps returning to what she sees as selective media attention. She mentions the Holodomor and Henrikh Yagoda, asking why these atrocities against Christians receive less attention than the Holocaust. "Nobody wants to talk about the Christian Holocaust," she argues.
She is particularly outraged about the situation in Armenia, where Israel supplies arms being used against Christians: "It is especially horrific while at the exact same time that it is happening the slaughter of Christians in Armenia, the arms being supplied by Israel, that the media turns the other way."
Owens positions herself as a Christian first: "My concerns are going to be with what's happening to Christians all around the world because it is us. We are the number one most persecuted religion in the world." She also points to Christian persecution in Nigeria and discrimination against Christians in America.
Her final challenge to the media is clear: "When there is wall-to-wall coverage of Christians being killed in Armenia, Christians being killed in Nigeria and the treatment of Christians in America and all across the globe today, then you ask me if I will use my platform and I will use my voice to speak about what's happening in Israel. How about that for equality?"
