Conservative provocateur Candace Owens has ignited a firestorm with a video that critics are calling a new low in anti-Semitic rhetoric, directly targeting fellow right-wing media figure Ben Shapiro.
A Provocative Video Escalates Conservative In-Fighting
The controversy stems from a video Owens posted on YouTube over the weekend of December 21-22, 2025. In it, she launched a pointed attack on podcaster and media founder Ben Shapiro, who is openly Jewish. The context was the first major conference for the group Turning Points USA since its founder, the late Charlie Kirk, was murdered in September 2025.
Rather than focusing on Kirk's legacy, the event became a battleground over Israel and anti-Semitism. Shapiro, who once employed Owens at his media site The Daily Wire, was a key speaker. He strongly criticized former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for interviewing white nationalist Nick Fuentes in late October, calling the act "moral imbecility" and stating Kirk had "despised" Fuentes.
Owens' Attack Embraces Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theories
Owens' response crossed a line that has alarmed observers. Her lengthy tirade moved beyond political disagreement into what author David Christopher Kaufman and others have labeled undeniably racist territory.
In her podcast, Owens made a series of incendiary claims. She suggested Jewish people were responsible for controlling the transatlantic slave trade, stating, "Jewish people were the ones who were trading us. They've buried a lot of it, but it is there." She also implied Israel was involved in Charlie Kirk's death and derided the nation as a "cult nation" and "demonic enterprise."
In a particularly charged moment, Owens, who is Black, declared that Shapiro hates "white men" and "all Black people." She then implored African-Americans to "wake up" to whom she framed as their true enemy. Her language, described as measured yet venomous, advocates for a worldview based on hatred and retribution against Jewish people.
The Unsettling Shift and Broader Implications
This incident marks a significant and troubling escalation in Owens' public commentary. Over the past 18 months, she has increasingly focused her criticism on Israel and Jewish people. Kaufman, writing on December 25, 2025, noted the particular shock of labeling an African-American figure as "racist," a term he never thought he would use in that context, challenging the orthodoxy that Black people cannot be racist.
The fallout from the video highlights deep fractures within the American conservative movement. It underscores how anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, once relegated to the extremist fringe, are finding voice within more mainstream right-wing discourse. The episode at the Turning Points USA conference signals that the debate over Israel and anti-Semitism has become a central and divisive flashpoint.
The response condemning Owens' remarks has been swift, framing her statements as a dangerous incitement that moves beyond prejudice into overt racism. The event underscores the ongoing struggle within political movements to define their boundaries and confront bigotry from within their own ranks.
