At the time of this writing, Charlie Kirk has been dead one week. They haven’t even had his funeral yet. But apparently seven days was too long for Candace Owens not to insert herself right smack-dab in the middle of a tragedy that had nothing to do with her, and exploit her supposed “friend’s” death to peddle the same old conspiracies about Israel and Zionists on another episode of the Candace Owens Show.
The Candace Owens Show: it’s the name of Candace Owens’ podcast, sure, but it also just as easily could be the name of the narcissistic self-promoting way Candace Owens views the world and the people in it. Indeed every event it seems—no matter how much is known or unknown, no matter how awful or unexpected, no matter how fresh—exists only to be a part of the Candace Show; where Candace is the main character always, and her pudding-brained “investigations” garner the adoration of her equally pudding-brained millions (yes millions!) of fans.
Not even Charlie Kirk gets to be the main character of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Not even his own wife (who is still reeling from the death of a husband she had just last Tuesday) gets to be the one to blow the lid on any alleged cover-up or alleged wider conspiracy about her husband’s death. Not even his own wife gets to be the first to voice any skepticism about official reports, or shed light on any pressures or arguments or falling-outs her husband may or may not have faced with financial backers in his final months.
Nope.
Spotlight on Candace!
Candace Owens has the scoop, everybody!
Don’t forget about Candace!
She’s… the real widow in all this?
Is that too mean? I don’t think so. This insane woman has the audacity to appoint herself the Lone Defender of Kirk’s Legacy and allege (without any actual proof) that Kirk’s death “looks like an operation” while that man’s widow is still trying to catch her breath.
But Owens has no shame. This narcissistic behavior is just one instance among many instances of the hollow theatrics and hunger for attention that has come to define her rocky career (which she of course likes to reframe as “being attacked for just asking kawestions!”)
“I will not stop investigating what happened to my friend, Charlie Kirk” she exclaimed on her podcast, and in a cryptic X post she wrote “If you betrayed Charlie, I will find out.”
Calm down, detective. Oh wait. You’re not one.
“You don’t think Charlie was silenced because he wouldn’t fall in line on Israel?” she asked her audience during a livestream.
I dunno Candace. Israel’s still allowing you to suck oxygen.
Let’s be clear: there is no evidence—none—that Kirk’s killing was anything other than what investigators have reported. (Including the sheriff’s department in OREM, UTAH; who I guess are in league with “the Zionists” and “the feds” according to the conspiracy theory Owens is currently farting out of her face). And by “no evidence”, I don’t mean “no evidence” as in “there’s no evidence Covid came from a lab” or “there’s no evidence the second attack in the Gulf of Tonkin was fake”. I mean “there’s no evidence that Kirk’s killing was anything other than what investigators have reported” in the same way there’s no evidence your dog stands on two legs and makes funny faces at you when your back is turned. I mean “no evidence” as in you can’t just outright fabricate alternative explanations of events for clout, and then demand mourners pause their mourning to waste their time proving you wrong, you deranged psychopath.
But in any unfolding major event or controversy, Candace cannot abide being a supporting character, and certainly cannot abide not being a character at all. She must seize the spotlight, even if it means warping a “friend’s” death into fodder for baseless suspicion to drive clicks to her channel. Her conspiracy-mongering is not an act of courage. It’s vanity. It’s gross. She’s gross.
Whenever the news cycle shifts away from Candace Owens, Candace Owens always make sure to lunge back into relevance by concocting drama. It doesn’t matter how implausible the theory, how corrosive the effect, or how many people are hurt in the process. What matters is that Candace Owens is once again the center of attention, portrayed as “the brave maverick with the guts to say what others won’t”. What a tired schtick.
Though in this case, the cost of her latest performance seems significantly greater than others. Owens’ accusations across social media have infused discourse about Kirk’s murder with paranoia, at precisely the moment when clarity and seriousness are needed. Instead of focusing on justice for her supposed “friend”, our focus has been shifted by Owens to the delusions of her fevered imagination. Instead of honoring the life of her “friend”, Charlie Kirk’s legacy becomes entangled in the ego of a woman who subordinates truth to theater. (Megyn Kelly today credited Candace Owens for “helping build [Kirk’s organization] Turning Point”. Come on Megyn, she had to “resign” from Turning Point six years ago precisely because her instability was embarrassing the organization.)
What makes this especially grotesque is the shamelessness of it all. Owens positions herself as a “pursuer of truth”, but truth has never been her concern. If truth mattered, she would stop inventing stories out of thin air. (How’s that Macron lawsuit going, Candace? Doesn’t look like you’re having a good time.) She would stop treating every tragedy as a stage for her own melodrama. She would stop weaponizing grief. But no. Who are we kidding? Owens believes the world exists to orbit her. Everything is the Candace Show. We all live in the Candace Show. Even in the face of her “friend’s” murder, it’s all about herself and her “investigations” and what she will “find out”.
The brand must be promoted. The algorithm must be fed. Owens’ role of “truth-teller”, “victim of censorship”, and “warrior against the establishment”? These are characters she cycles through like costumes. Today, Kirk’s death provides her backdrop. Tomorrow it will be something else. What never changes, though, is the through line: Candace Owens, always front and center, always louder than the facts. (Oh… so… loud.)
Owens’ reaction to Kirk’s assassination is not just a lapse of judgment. It is a window into the depths of her putrid heart: opportunistic, self-absorbed, and unmoored from decency. A decent person would pause. A decent person would recognize the pain of Kirk’s family. A decent person would recoil from using a “friend’s” death as clickbait. Owens, by contrast, plows ahead. And conservatives shouldn’t tolerate it. Conservatives shouldn’t excuse it or shrug it off as “Candace being Candace”. Because what’s at stake—in this moment—is whether the conservative movement will remain tethered to reality or descend into a gutter where every tragedy can be “semi-fictionalized” for content.
In the end, Candace Owens’ conspiracy theories tell us nothing about Kirk’s death, and everything about her. They reveal a woman who cannot mourn without marketing herself, who cannot resist the lure of the spotlight, and who cannot summon the ground level goodness to step off to the side and not take up space common sense would suggest is meant for other people (like, oh, say, a dead man’s wife. Or his friends. Or his pastor.) Candace Owens is not a “truth-teller”. Candace Owens is not a martyr. Candace Owens is not a serious commentator. Candace Owens is a forked-tongued liar. A liar without shame; though being without shame does not prevent her from disgracing herself.
The conservative movement, and Charlie Kirk’s memory, deserve better.
*** Addendum, September 20th:
Candace Owens is now furious she was not invited to speak at her “good friend” Charlie Kirk’s funeral. But rather than direct anger at Charlie Kirk’s widow for this (because that obviously would not be well-received by the public, even though Kirk’s widow is in charge of the funeral), Candace insinuates that Erika Kirk is—in fact—not really in charge of the funeral, but “donors” have taken control.
Ahhhhhh, Candace, now it makes sense why you’ve been acting like Charlie Kirk’s second wife the whole time! It’s because his actual wife is a hostage! You’re not stepping into her place as Lone Defender of Kirk’s Legacy because you’re crazier than a shithouse rat, you’re stepping into her place because she’s been compromised! And since you are the only one GETTING TO THE TRUTH about her husband’s murder, “donors” are keeping you off the funeral stage!
Well, Candace Candace, my dear Candace, don’t keep the public waiting. Who are the powerful interests doing this?
Of course. The Zionists. The Jooz. They’re the Moriarty to your Sherlock Holmes (if Sherlock Holmes ran out of quetiapine and Moriarty was just a broom in his closet). Quick Candace! To the attic! I think the Zionists have tangled up your Christmas lights! They live in the walls, Candace! They live in the walllllls!
