NEW YORK — An upcoming fundraiser for Donald Trump dropped commentator Candace Owens from its guest lineup on July 23, following blowback over Owens’ record of embracing anti-Semitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial.
The fundraiser on July 26 was backed by a cryptocurrency called “MAGA Again” founded by Trump supporters. It featured Donald Trump Jr. as a headliner.
A range of Jewish commentators castigated the event for giving Owens a platform.
“Unless there is some missing context, it’s a disgrace for @DonaldJTrumpJr to appear with one of the leading anti-Semitic conspiracists online,” tweeted Philip Klein, the editor of National Review Online.
Owens herself denied that she had been dropped, writing on X that she voluntarily withdrew.
The fundraiser was set to take place in Nashville.
The 34-year-old Owens was once a rising star in the conservative movement.
Earlier this year, Orthodox Jewish pundit Ben Shapiro, fired her from his company over her accusation that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Owens “liked” a tweet accusing one of her opponents of drinking Christian blood.
In 2022, she defended rap star Ye, previously known as Kanye West, after he went on an anti-Semitic tirade.
Owens has listed President Joe Biden’s Jewish cabinet members as a means of defending Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, after he said “Jews” were “in control” of the Biden White House.
“I don’t accept Jewish supremacy,” Owens said in another recent episode of her podcast in which she sought to defend her rhetoric around Jewish people. In the episode, she said she believed “the Jewish community post-Oct. 7 has gotten a little snowflake-y” and “they’re just calling everything anti-Semitism.”
Last month, on an episode of her podcast titled “Literally Hitler: Why Can’t We Talk About Him?”, Owens said, “We are not allowed to discuss Adolf Hitler” and “They’ve turned him almost into Lord Voldemort,” referring to the “Harry Potter” villain.
Owens said German prisoners of war suffered more under Americans than Jews did under the Nazis and suggested that historical documentation about Nazi doctor Josef Mengele’s experimentations during the Holocaust is “bizarre propaganda.” The episode has nearly half a million views on YouTube.
Years ago, Owens said at an event, “If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, Ok, fine. The problem is that he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize.”
More recently, Owens joined TikTok with a video defending Palestinian-American model and frequent Israel critic Bella Hadid, who was dropped from an Adidas sneaker campaign commemorating the 1972 Munich Olympics (Adidas has since also apologized to Hadid over the incident). Owens said Hadid was “being consistently harassed for entirely no reason.”
Jewish Trump supporters cheered Owens’ removal from the rally.
“Candace Owens is not just intellectually challenged, but a Hitler-loving anti-Semite who should play no role in normative politics,” tweeted Shabbos Kestenbaum, a graduate of Harvard University’s divinity school who spoke at last month’s Republican National Convention. “Grateful for this positive outcome. Let’s continue to call out far-right and far-left anti-Semitism, this should never be partisan!”
Democratic Majority for Israel, a Jewish pro-Israel Democrat group, sought to link the planned Owens fundraiser to this history in a statement last week. “Candace Owens is a vicious anti-Semite — full stop,” the group’s CEO Mark Mellman said in a statement.
“Her planned appearance at a rally with the disgraced former President’s own son on Friday betrays the Trump campaign’s desperate attempt to attract far-right support by appealing to an anti-Semitic, anti-democratic and extremist forces.”
Trump and his defenders reject the notion that Trump, with a Jewish daughter and son-in-law, Jewish grandchildren and unprecedented pro-Israel policies, is anti-Semitic.