Candace Owens is Ben Shapiro's Frankenstein's Monster
The way you make your bed, so you lie on it
The current feud between Daily Wire hosts Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro has led to Ben Shapiro all but calling for the firing of Candace Owens. The series of public spat between the two of them raises the question of whether Owen’s days at the Daily Wire are numbered. In the past few days, they have taken shots at each other in a manner that feels like airing dirty family laundry in public, but there is a part of me which thinks that this is all a massive publicity stunt to drive traffic to the Daily Wire, and I would maintain that sceptic view until Candace Owens either quits the Daily Wire or the Daily Wire fires her. Until then, I’ll grab my popcorn and enjoy the show.
Candace Owens was recently on Tucker Carlson’s X show where they talked substantially about Ben Shapiro’s response to her stance or lack thereof on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tucker played a video of Ben Shapiro responding to a question about Candace Owens where Ben described Owen's behaviour as being disgraceful. Candace dismissed Ben’s ad hominem attack saying it was more a reflection of Ben’s character than anything else.
But how did this all start? How did Candace Owens come to draw the ire of Ben Shapiro?
Well, maybe it had something to do with Candace Owen’s recent show where she called out Nikki Halley for her support of Israel, going so far as to endorse Nikki Haley for the President of Israel. Nikki Haley has been unabashedly pro-Israel describing American support for Israel as being a righteous cause as well as saying that It’s not that Israel needs America, but that America needs Israel. For Candace Owens, her motto is America First. This detached stance of Candace Owens did not seem to sit well with Ben Shapiro, who obviously wanted Candace Owens to be actively pro-Israel.
Another possible reason why Ben is mad at Candace is that she dared to ask in a recent show, why are Jews special? She used it in the context of saying nobody said or did anything about anti-white male bigotry in US campuses for years but suddenly when something akin to that happens to Jews, there is such an uproar to the extent that there have been calls for safe spaces for Jews, as well as organizations pulling funding from colleges they believe to be anti-Israel. That’s a valid question Candace asked given the fact that the conflict is about Israel and Palestine, not Jews and Palestine, not America and Palestine, why is there such a vested interest on behalf of Israel? I don’t often agree with Candace, but she’s right on this one.
Candace particularly took issues with the framing that any critique or questioning of Israeli policy is antisemitic, likening it to the charge of racism that usually gets thrown at White people anytime there is a negative interaction between a White person and a Black person. Again, she is right. Israel is not special, it is not above critique and reproach, antisemitism is not the reason for most of the critiques of Israel and using the charge of antisemitism is a way of silencing speech and civil discourse.
Interestingly, Candace has not come out on the side of the Palestinians, she—from the tone of her tweets—is essentially in favour of a ceasefire in a conflict that has claimed the lives of up to ten thousand Palestinian civilians with many of them being children. It seems very odd that many Western countries think that a ceasefire is unnecessary at this point, the truth is there is never a time when a ceasefire is unnecessary in an armed conflict.
Because of this somewhat unorthodox stance of Candace on this conflict, she has been called antisemitic by many, especially on Twitter. Abby Lib said about Candace,
“I don’t think Candace Owens is a shitty person because she’s antisemitic I think she’s antisemitic because she’s a shitty person.”
What in the woke world is that? Is this the revised definition of antisemitism? Does being a shitty person make one antisemitic?
Abby goes on to say,
“Why did Candace Owens agree to work for the Daily Wire if she felt this way about Jews? It’s almost like it’s only ever been about the money and fame for her.”
There are a couple of things to unpack here, first questioning Israel or Jews is not antisemitic, second even if Candace were antisemitic, is the Daily Wire a “Jewish” organization? Are all Jews Israeli, why is an attack on Israel seen as an attack on Jews? Does this not lend credence to the idea that Israel is an ethno-religious state exclusive to Jews?
Israel likes to use its 20% Arab citizenry for diversity points to show that it’s not a state for Jews only, given that logic, it stands to reason that an attack on Israel is an attack on Israel, not an attack on Jews. But the reality is, that’s not how it’s seen by Israel or by many Jews. They believe Israel to be an exclusive Jewish state and their behaviour when Israel is concerned proves it. It’s like the US saying is not a White nationalist country but saying any attack on the US is an attack on White people. You can’t have it both ways.
As this feud unfolded, Candace Owens made a post quoting scripture saying,
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God….” continuing with “No one can serve two masters….you cannot serve both God and money”.
Ben Shapiro jumped on this asking Candace Owens to quit if she feels that taking money from the Daily Wire somehow comes between her and God.
Candace shot back saying he was totally out of line for suggesting she could not quote the scripture and that the Bible wasn’t about him. The fact that the “facts don’t care about your feelings guy” is acting like a petulant child is all you need to know to not take Ben Shapiro seriously in this feud with Candace.
Candace Owens has always been a problematic figure. She was a problematic figure when she called Black Democrats slaves in the Democratic plantation. Candace Owens was problematic when she couldn’t have the decency to be empathetic on George Floyd, who though wasn’t the best of individuals did not deserve to die the way he did. In all these problematic behaviours, not once did Ben Shapiro take issues with Candace’s stance. She was the Daily Wire’s attack dog, and they all cosigned her behaviour, but now that Candace has begun to attack a position close to Ben Shapiro’s heart, he suddenly recognises that she is problematic.
Candace Owens is a Daily Wire creation, Ben Shapiro’s Frankenstein’s monster, he must now lie in his bed the way he made it.
Charles Ekokotu (Pharm. D.) is a bibliophile, prose fiction writer, poet, and playwright. His first self-published novel, Hotel Shendam—a crime fiction novel featuring a debate on race and colonialism—is available on Amazon. He hosts a show on YouTube called, Critical African Thinkers which covers interesting interviews and commentary on race, politics, religion, social issues, etc.
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Very interesting article. I think you are very insightful on the dispute between Ben and Candace. I really appreciate Candace and hope her influence grows. In my opinion, she has matured dramatically from when she first appeared on the scene. Fast talking neo-con war monger Ben has lost most of his early appeal for me. Candace has the courage of her convictions and is not a political hack. I do disagree strongly on George Floyd. He was not murdered. As the coroner stated, he died of natural causes due to his overdoes on drugs. His life and death while tragic indeed, was due to his own bad decisions. Thank you for your article. I am happy that I received it.
The difference between “anti-white bigotry on campuses” whatever that means and the after effects of 10/7 are obvious to anyone who is not blind to them. It’s almost funny to talk about anti-white bigotry in a nation that is controlled by white men, me among them. But that’s besides the point. The context of any “anti-white male bigotry” is sufficiently distinct from that of Israel and Jews. Again a pretty mundane point of view. Shapiro, like the Republican Party made the bed they are forced, or enjoy being made to sleep on. I don’t really care. They will blow up eventually as their poison envelops them totally. But let’s not equivocate between so called white male bigotry and what’s going on post 10/7 with both Jews and Israel. There is no relation whatsoever.