Candace Owens Upsets Conservative Boss With Israel Comments

Conservative political commentator Candace Owens has drawn criticism from hard-right voices over her recent comments regarding the Israel-Hamas war, including from her boss at the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro.

In a video shared to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, Shapiro, who is Jewish, was filmed answering questions in front of a crowd and described Owens' commentary on the ongoing conflict in Gaza as "disgraceful." Shapiro, host of the conservative podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, is the founding editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, where Owens hosts her own show.

"The question is about Candace Owens," Shapiro said into a microphone in the video posted to X by user @LoomerLs. "I think her behavior during this has been disgraceful, without a doubt."

Shapiro's answer was met with applause from the audience, followed by his acknowledgment that Owens "still works at my company."

"I think that her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous," Shapiro added.

It's unclear which event Shapiro was speaking at in the video clip, and Newsweek has reached out to the press team at the Daily Wire for more information. An email was also sent to Owens' team for comment Tuesday.

Shapiro's comments come after Owens has repeatedly found herself in hot water over her statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war. The podcast host first garnered attention shortly after the Palestinian militant group Hamas led its surprise attack on Israel October 7, killing at least 1,400 people and subsequently sparking Tel Aviv's heaviest-ever military response in the Gaza Strip. Roughly a week after the attack, Owens fought with conservative journalist Megyn Kelly on X, wrangling over whether college students protesting for Palestinians should be "blacklisted."

Owens again sparked debate after posting a message to X earlier this month, stating her opposition to genocide. The Israeli military has faced immense criticism for its response to the Hamas attacks. According to the Associated Press, which cited the Gaza Health Ministry, over 10,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip as of November 6.

In an episode of her Candace Owens Podcast a few days after the controversial post titled "Am I Anti-Semitic?" Owens sat down with Jewish comedian Ami Kozak to discuss the conflict in Gaza, and again drew criticism for asserting during the conversation that there are "Muslim quarters" that dictate where Muslim citizens are allowed to live in Jerusalem.

"I grew up in my grandparents' house, my grandfather grew up in a segregated South, and so when I'm walking through Jerusalem, and you see, and they say 'these are the Muslim quarters, this is where the Muslims are allowed to live,' that doesn't feel like a bastion of freedom to me," Owens said during her show.

Kozak corrected Owens' statements, explaining that while there are ethnic communities within the city of Jerusalem, there are no specific quarters that "legally" dictate where Muslim citizens can live. Jerusalem's Old City has four quarters—Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian—and each neighborhood represents the ethnic group of most of the people who live there, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.