Candace Owens Is Out at the Daily Wire, CEO Announces

Candace Owens speaks at the Young Women’s Leadership Summit at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, on June 10, 2023. Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times

Conservative commentator Candace Owens parted with the Daily Wire, the outlet’s CEO announced on Friday.

“Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship,” Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing wrote in a post on X on Friday. He did not provide more details about why she is leaving, whether she left on her own accord, or whether she was fired by the Daily Wire.

On Friday, Ms. Owens responded to tabloid reports that she was leaving the Daily Wire by saying that “the rumors are true—I am finally free.”

“There will be many announcements in the weeks to come,“ she wrote on X, adding that fans should visit her website to ”support my work“ or donate. The commentator said she would return to YouTube ”after a brief hiatus,” without any more details.

The Daily Wire still includes a section dedicated to Ms. Owens’ episodes, with the last one being posted on March 19.

Her departure from the news outlet comes months after she publicly feuded with Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro on social media weeks after the start the Israel–Hamas war, disagreeing on several points. At one point last year, Mr. Shapiro told Ms. Owens on X: “By all means, quit.”

In November, Mr. Shapiro was critical of Ms. Owens comments in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks as “disgraceful” before adding, “I think that her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous.” He was apparently referring to her claims that Israel’s military is committing genocide in Gaza.

In the midst of the spat, Mr. Boreing issued a statement on social media that Ms. Owens wouldn’t be fired and said his outlet is committed to free speech.

“In my current capacity, I cannot fire Candace Owens,” he said in November, adding that her job was “secure.” “That’s something Ben and I have in common since he is also not an executive in the company and cannot hire or fire people.”

He added: “But even if we could, we would not fire Candace because of another thing we have in common—a desire not to regulate the speech of our hosts, even when we disagree with them.”

This week, the left-wing Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote that it believed that Ms. Owens’s comments on the Israel–Hamas conflict were anti-Semitic and were being promoted by Nick Fuentes. In response, Ms. Owens wrote that “I do not know Nick Fuentes, but you already know that.”

“What I do know is that everyone can see what you guys are doing to me. Your pattern is well established and the world is waking up to it. My crime is having stood up for myself against your network of smears,” she wrote back to the ADL on X.

“My crime, is that I do not believe that American taxpayers should have to pay for Israel’s wars or the wars of any other country. I will not change my mind. So the question is what will you do to me next? The world is watching,” Ms. Owens added on the platform on March 21.

She also appeared on a YouTube interview with host “Charlamagne tha God” on March 21 in which she said that Mr. Shapiro “doesn’t have the power to fire me.”

“As I explained on Tucker Carlson’s show, like, Ben doesn’t have the power to fire me,” she added. “And it’s not even saying that we disagree on Israel and Palestine. I just think that he’s — obviously, his wife is Israeli. He spends a lot of time in Israel throughout the year. I think when you have an emotional attachment to some place, that sometimes your reaction to anything is going to be more extreme to it. You know?”

As of Friday, Mr. Shapiro, who is Jewish and a firm backer of Israel in the Hamas conflict, has not yet issued a statement on the matter on X, where he is usually very active.

Mr. Boreing’s statement on Friday did not make mention of her dispute with Mr. Shapiro or her opinions regarding the Israel–Hamas war.