Candace Owens has ended her longtime partnership with The Daily Wire, a split she attributes to the conservative outlet’s failure to offer frequent and full-throated defenses of Israel’s war with Hamas.
The news was broken by Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing, who wrote Thursday morning that both sides have “ended their relationship.”
The split comes as Owens’ three-year contract was up for renewal, leading to speculation that the timing was right for the conservative host to go in a different direction. Owens has frequently butted heads with pro-Israel co-founder Ben Shapiro, criticizing the Jewish nation for its incursions into Gaza following the October 7th, 2023 attack by Hamas that left 1,400 Israelis dead and scores more taken hostage.
In a cryptic post on Thursday, Owens intimated that she would be speaking out soon about receiving threats she said have been a constant source of harassment.“A lot of people asking why I am speaking out so much as of late,” Owens wrote on X. “Truly, because I’ve had enough. I’ve been routinely threatened, smeared and libeled for years and what you saw yesterday is typical;. the people doing the smearing want you to apologize to them. It is deranged logic.
“It’s time to say the quiet part out loud.”
On her show later that day, Owens, a Christian, reviewed her recent interview with Rabbi Barclay, a fervent advocate of Israel’s right to defend itself. She offered backhanded compliments to the Jewish leader, characterizing him as a racial supremacist.“I think he views himself as better… or at least his race as more important, more significant, the history of his race as more significant… If you are honestly a supremacist, at least I can appreciate that,” she said, kicking off her show by asking rhetorically why her followers are warning her that she’ll be killed for questioning Israel at a time of heightened awareness about Jewish nationalism.Shapiro, who is Jewish, has traveled and spoken publicly about acts of terrorism against Israel and gone to lengths to distinguish between Hamas terrorists and the larger Palestinian population victimized by the conflict. If he decides to publicly denounce Owens, that would put Shapiro in odd company with the Anti-Defamation League, a typically progressive organization calling Owens antisemitic over her recent comments.
Owens shot back in her own post, “I am grateful they have turned their smear merchant guns on me. The world already knows my heart. Their attacks will have the opposite desired effect. Awaken world. Thank you, @adl.”