Candace Owens said that her colleague and fellow right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro should be “embarrassed” amid an online feud between the pair, and accused him of making “ad hominem attacks” on her.
Ms Owens, who is known for her outspoken views on issues including the Covid vaccine and the Black Lives Matter movement, said Mr Shapiro had “thrown her under a bus”, also accusing him of being “unprofessional” and “emotionally unhinged”.
It comes after a video shared online showed Mr Shapiro speaking at what appeared to be a private event, during which he described Ms Owens’ “faux sophistication” of certain issues as “disgraceful” and “ridiculous”.
The pair both work together on right-wing news company The Daily Wire. While Mr Shapiro did not reference a specific thing Ms Owens had said or done in the video, his remarks came following several posts she had made on X.
“No government anywhere has a right to commit a genocide, ever. There is no justification for a genocide. I can’t believe this even needs to be said or is even considered the least bit controversial to state,” she wrote on 3 November.
Her comments were taken to be referencing the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel in the Middle East – though Ms Owens did not specifically mention it.
Speaking to Tucker Carlson for his series Tucker On X, Ms Owens said she still did not have any “clarity” on Mr Shapiro’s criticism of her and that his remarks were “just ad hominem attacks”.
“I can’t respond to it on a level of intellect because there’s nothing that he has expressed in that, at least in that short clip, that he fundamentally disagrees with in terms of what I said,” she said.
“I will say that I’m not going to respond with the same ad hominem attack – I don’t think it helps further discussion – and if it was me that was caught on a video saying that about colleagues that I work with, I would be embarrassed.
“So I think that the video speaks more to Ben’s character than it speaks to mine.”
Ms Owens added that she had not been contacted by Mr Shapiro – who co-founded the Daily Wire in 2015 – to discuss their disagreements.
“Ben and I have many disagreements so I don’t think that that’s particularly something that’s interesting… he has taken virtually every stance that has been the opposite of mine on every issue over the last five years. So I don’t think that that’s particularly remarkable,” she said.
“I am totally open to people having a difference in opinion. I would hope that amongst colleagues that it would always be a civil disagreement, and I would never in a private event stand on a table and talk badly about Ben.”
Ms Owens went on to give “tremendous credit” to the Daily Wire for allowing differing opinions on the network, but added: “I would hope that it will remain respectful, and that you wouldn’t throw your colleagues under a bus so to speak.”
The feud continued on Wednesday evening, after Mr Shapiro responded to another post on X by Ms Owens, in which she quoted Bible verse and wrote: “You cannot serve both God and money.”
“Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit,” Mr Shapiro wrote.
Ms Owens replied: “You have been acting unprofessional and emotionally unhinged for weeks now. And we have all had to sit back and allow it and have all tried to exercise exceeding understanding for your raw emotion.
“But you cross a certain line when you come for scripture and read yourself into it. I will not tolerate it.”