Candace Owens parts ways with Daily Wire amid criticism: 'I am finally free'
Conservative political commentator Candace Owens parted ways with The Daily Wire and solicited her followers for donations Friday, promising more news in the coming weeks.
"Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship," Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing tweeted Friday morning.
"The rumors are true — I am finally free," Owens tweeted shortly before, urging followers to go to her website and donate. "There will be many announcements in the weeks to come."
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The rumors are true— I am finally free.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) March 22, 2024
If you would like to support my work, you can head to https://t.co/fOcTKYQDFk where you will be directed to my locals page.
Or, you can give a gift at https://t.co/SB1L1WZYwW
There will be many announcements in the weeks to come. ??????????
Neither gave a reason for her departure, which comes in the wake of mounting criticism against her for comments she has made about Israel, which led to a public feud with Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro last fall.
In November, Owens appeared to criticize Israel's response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas when she tweeted, "No government anywhere has a right to commit a genocide, ever. There is no justification for a genocide. I can't believe this even needs to be said or is even considered the least bit controversial to state."
In a video that went viral on X, Shapiro criticized Owens as "absolutely disgraceful" for her rhetoric on the Israel-Hamas war, saying, "her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous." However, he did not say specifically what he found objectionable.
Owens subsequently posted a portion of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus promised blessing for peacemakers and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Shapiro responded by urging her to quit, which prompted her to hit back.
"Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit," Shapiro wrote.
"You have been acting unprofessional and emotionally unhinged for weeks now," Owens replied. "And we have all had to sit back and allow it and have all tried to exercise exceeding understanding for your raw emotion. But you cross a certain line when you come for scripture and read yourself into it. I will not tolerate it."
During an interview with Tucker Carlson amid the spat, Owens dismissed Shapiro's criticism as "just ad-hominem attacks."
"I can't respond to it on a level of intellect, because there's nothing that he has expressed — at least in that short clip — that he fundamentally disagrees with in terms of what I have said, but I will say that I'm not going to respond with the same ad hominem attacks," she said. "I don't think it helps further the discussion."
"If that was me that was caught on a video saying that about colleagues that I work with, I would be embarrassed," she said, noting she "would never, at a private event, stand on a table and talk badly about Ben."
Earlier this week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) accused Owens of "vitriolic antisemitism." She also "liked" a tweet suggesting that Jews are "drunk on Christian blood," according to Mediaite.
"My crime is having stood up for myself against your network of smears," Owens posted in response ADL's criticism.
Owens also took flak last week for asserting that French President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte is biologically male.
"After looking into this, I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man," she wrote.
