Who Is Candace Owens—and Why Her Antisemitic Rhetoric Poses Real Risks for American Society

• Who is Candace Owens?
• What Antisemitic Claims Has Candace Owens Made?
• Candace Owens and the Mainstreaming of Antisemitic Narratives
• Online Antisemitism in America
• What is AJC Doing to Combat Antisemitism Online?
• How You Can Counter Online Antisemitism

Candace Owens is a conservative political commentator whose increasingly antisemitic rhetoric has alarmed former allies, mainstream conservatives, and Jewish groups, including American Jewish Committee (AJC). 

Here is what to know about Candace Owens, including how she promotes antisemitism and her influence within conservative media.

Key Takeaways

1. From Mainstream to Extremist: Candace Owens has transformed from a conservative commentator with credentials at Daily Wire, Turning Point USA, and as a Fox News contributor into someone who promotes Holocaust denial, blood libel, and conspiracy theories about Jewish control.
2. Dangerous Reach: With over 5.7 million YouTube subscribers, Owens packages antisemitism as political commentary, making hate speech against Jews palatable to audiences who might otherwise reject explicit antisemitism.
3. Conservative Movement Divided: Her rhetoric has split conservative circles, with figures like Ben Shapiro and Dennis Prager publicly condemning her, while she is supported by former Fox News host and podcaster Tucker Carlson, a sharp critic of Israel, and extremists like Nick Fuentes praise her "vitriolic antisemitism"–reflecting a potential struggle over the future of conservatism on the issue. 

Who is Candace Owens?

Candace Owens, 36, is a conservative political commentator and provocateur who rose to prominence in the late 2010s as a vocal critic of the Black Lives Matter movement and supporter of Donald Trump. She served as communications director at Turning Point USA, a conservative youth political organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, before working at the conservative media and advocacy organization, PragerU, and later joined The Daily Wire in 2021, where she hosted a popular political talk show.

While seemingly a supporter of Israel earlier in her career, before and especially after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel, Owens came to increasingly promote antisemitic tropes and spew antisemitic rhetoric on her podcast and social media channels. In March 2024, The Daily Wire, the conservative media company co-founded by Ben Shapiro, parted ways with Owens following a series of statements that many condemned as antisemitic.

Since leaving The Daily Wire, Owens has launched her own podcast and continues to push antisemitic conspiracy theories to millions of followers on YouTube, X, and Instagram. Her rhetoric has grown more extreme and outlandish–from suggestive “political criticism” to openly linking Jewish symbols to occult practices, child abuse, and terrorist groups, echoing antisemitic themes and conspiracy theories that have been used for decades and even centuries to target Jews throughout history.

What Antisemitic Claims Has Candace Owens Made?

Holocaust Denial and Minimization

Candace Owens’ rhetoric has extended beyond conspiracy theories into repeated instances of Holocaust denial, distortion, and historical minimization.

• In July 2024, Owens called the torturous "experiments" on Jewish and other prisoners undertaken by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele during World War II and the Holocaust "bizarre propaganda." She said that "some of the stories, by the way, sound completely absurd" and questioned why anyone would conduct such experiments, calling them "a tremendous waste of time and supplies." These comments led Australia and New Zealand to deny her entry visas for planned speaking tours. 

• Owens has mocked Jewish fears over Ye’s, also known as Kanye West, antisemitic tweets. 
• In 2019, while serving as communications director for Turning Point USA, Owens appeared to defend Adolf Hitler, stating that the problem with Hitler was not his domestic actions in Germany but his expansion into other countries.

Conspiracy Theories About Jewish Control

Owens has repeatedly used the antisemitic trope about Jewish control over the media and government. 

• In 2024, while in a dispute with Shmuley Boteach, a popular Jewish rabbi and author, she claimed that in Hollywood, there is "a small ring of specific people who are using the fact that they are Jewish to shield themselves from any criticism" and that this ring "appears to be something that is quite sinister.” 
• In 2024, YouTube suspended Owens for antisemitic content after she claimed that "Jewish people control the media," a statement that violated the platform's hate speech policies.
• In June 2025, she accused Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the founder of Ohr Torah Stone, an Israel-based Modern Orthodox educational organization, of using Bitcoin to bribe Christian pastors to speak against her and Tucker Carlson.  
• In December 2025, Owens urged her audience to read a 19th-century antisemitic book and accused Jews of orchestrating the transatlantic slave trade and racial conflict. She called on Black Americans to turn their ire on Jews instead of holding grudges against white Americans.
• She has falsely claimed that the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, spiritual leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, "preached Jewish supremacism."

Conspiracy Theories on Israel

Owens often shares conspiracy theories surrounding Israel. 

• In February 2026, a social media post from Owens that falsely claimed Israel controls the Islamic State terror group went viral. 
• In August 2024, Owens falsely suggested links between Israel and the JFK assassination, while also claiming that the U.S. is being “held hostage” by Israel. She has also blamed Israel for the 9/11 terror attacks and the Charlie Kirk assassination. 
• Owens has called Israel a “demonic state” and "cult nation,” lying about its history.

Antisemitic Tropes to Attack Ben Shapiro and Backlash

Owens’ escalating rhetoric has also sparked a public rupture with prominent conservative allies who once supported her rise. Owens’ rhetoric has invoked often used antisemitic attacks, accusing Jews of greed and violence. 

• In late 2025, Owens attacked Ben Shapiro, a Jewish conservative political commentator and co-founder of The Daily Wire, using explicitly antisemitic language and urging followers to read Der Talmudjude (“The Talmudic Jew”), a 19th-century antisemitic pamphlet that falsely claims the Talmud — the central collection of Jewish rabbinic discussions and interpretations of Jewish law and ethics — instructs Jews to steal, lie, cheat, and kill Christians. The text has long circulated as a source of antisemitic propaganda.
• She also called him part of the “synagogue of Satan,” an antisemitic description originally drawn from medieval Christian folklore and artwork, when Jews were purposely and hatefully depicted with grotesque characteristics such as devil’s horns, sharp claws, jagged teeth, pointy ears, and other satanic features to portray the differences between Christianity and Judaism.  
• Shapiro publicly rebuked Owens at a December 2025 Turning Point USA conference, and other conservative figures distanced themselves from her rhetoric.
• Dennis Prager, founder of PragerU, published a 15-page letter in September 2024 rebutting Owens’ claims about Jews, Zionism, and Israel, and went further in a January 2026 statement warning that her statements revive hatred against Jews and lead followers to see Jews as manipulative forces controlling America and the world.

Candace Owens and the Mainstreaming of Antisemitic Narratives

Unlike fringe figures operating on the margins, Candace Owens commands a large audience on mainstream platforms like YouTube, with more than 5.7 million subscribers and millions of followers across X and Instagram. That places her among the upper tier of conservative digital commentators, with a YouTube audience larger than many prominent conservative hosts such as the late Charlie Kirk and Matt Walsh, though somewhat smaller than conservative personalities like Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson, whose influence expanded through television and large-scale social media distribution.

Her past ties to major conservative outlets—including The Daily Wire, Turning Point USA, and PragerU—as well as appearances on Fox News have helped lend her credibility with mainstream conservative audiences. As a result, her messaging reaches a vast and politically engaged audience, allowing antisemitic narratives to spread far beyond fringe spaces and into broader public discourse.

Owens often presents antisemitic conspiracy theories disguised as the language of legitimate political critique, framing them as attacks on “Zionism,” foreign policy, or media bias. She has also argued that accusations of antisemitism are attempts to silence conservative or Black voices – for example, claiming that critics use the label “antisemitic” to shut down debate about Israel or to punish Black commentators who challenge what she describes as Jewish influence in media and politics. 

She has dismissed accusations of antisemitism as meaningless, claiming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “the most prominent antisemite” because he has harmed more “Semites” than anyone else. Owens is referring to a claim, often made by Black Hebrew Israelites or the Nation of Islam, that they are “Semitic people” and therefore cannot be antisemitic. 

This rhetoric has drawn praise from extremist figures such as white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, the far-right activist who lauded Owens’ “vitriolic antisemitism” and also described her as being in a “full-fledged war against the Jews.” 

American Jews Experience Antisemitism Most Often and Most Intensely Online

According to AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America Report, released in February, 73% of American Jews are experiencing antisemitism online — either by seeing or hearing it or by being personally targeted. 

Young American Jews (18-29 year olds) have it even worse: 87% of them say they’re experiencing it online.

What AJC Is Doing to Combat Antisemitism Online

AJC works closely with tech, social media, and AI companies to detect, prevent, and respond to antisemitism online, providing expertise, data, and practical tools. 

• Serve as trusted flaggers and early warning partners with direct reporting channels.
• Advise on policy and moderation, including removing coded antisemitic content.
• Support companies in implementing AJC’s Call to Action Against Antisemitism, offering practical recommendations for social media, AI, and gaming platforms.
• Working with influencers to spread the facts about Israel and antisemitic tropes online. 

@americanjewishcommittee AJC CEO Ted Deutch met with @tiktok ♬ original sound - americanjewishcommittee

How You Can Counter Online Antisemitism

• Take Action—Call on Congress to take concrete, actionable steps to counter the surge of anti-Jewish hate on social media and AI platforms. Send your email to Congress now.
• Share AJC’s Translate Hate Glossary—This glossary explains when, why, and how certain terms, tropes, themes, and memes are antisemitic, including anti-Jewish phrases that have resurfaced in recent years. We are seeing in real time how new antisemitic language emerges and old tropes evolve — often used to cast blame on Jews or the Jewish state for broader societal problems. Bookmark the glossary today.