Conservative political commentator Candace Owens said on Tuesday she has been "fielding threats" following her public dismissal of claims that Kanye West – who has legally changed his name to "Ye," was antisemitic after his since-deleted tweet earlier this month stating that he would "go death con 3 on Jewish people." Owens said that statement was not actually demonizing Jewish people.
"I have been fielding threats for two weeks straight," Owens wrote on Twitter. "How is it possible that any person is allowed to openly message 'don’t mess with the Jews' to me? Rochel Leah is just one of many who have been openly threatening me and many other black podcasters. Why is this okay?" Owens' post continued, referencing Rochel Leah Boteach, the daughter of well-known Orthodox American Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
I have been fielding threats for two weeks straight. How is it possible that any person is allowed to openly message “don’t mess with the Jews” to me? Rochel Leah is just one of many who have been openly threatening me and many other black podcasters. Why is this okay? pic.twitter.com/vXipcwdaYK
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) October 25, 2022
What are the "threats" Owens is referencing?
"How is it possible that any person is allowed to openly message 'don’t mess with the Jews' to me?"
Candace Owens
The younger Boteach runs the Instagram account "Thirsty Souls," a platform in which she has outspokenly condemned Owens after the latter responded to Ye's rant, which also included him warning Jews about toying with him and claiming that “Jewish Zionists” are controlling the media, by saying on an episode of her political talk show Candace: "If you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was antisemitic."
Boteach posted a photo of herself on Thirsty Souls, with the words: "don't mess with the Jews." – and tagged Owens and West. Owens did not elaborate in her tweet who else is included in the "many who have been openly threatening me," or what the alleged threats are.
Owens, who works for the Daily Wire news site run by Jewish political commentator Ben Shapiro, continued in her defense of Ye, saying that "you did not think that he wrote this tweet because he hates or wants to genocide Jewish people. This is not the beginning of a Holocaust."
"If you were an honest person, when you read this tweet, you had no idea what the hell he was talking about. I had no idea, when I read this tweet, what the hell he was talking about," Owens continued. "This tweet inspired questions, not answers."
Owens, 33, further gave her opinions on West's tweets, asking what is "death con 3." She then argues that Kanye may have meant to tweet "Deafcon 3," which is an alert state used by the US Armed Forces, to which Owens says "would be a military defense position - not an offense position for those of you who are offended."
Owens then alleged that if one is "lying" about West's tweet, it's because "they were scared and thought that Kanye West was going to launch a military strike at Israel." She further alleges that it was "the reaction that was met with this tweet."
Not Owens' first time in controversy
The conservative commentator was met with heavy criticism after she said in early 2019 that she would've had no issue with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had he kept his nationalism local in Germany rather than projecting it globally, a statement which forced her to defend herself the day after - saying that her comments were misinterpreted.
In late 2021, she compared giving children aged five to 11 a COVID-19 vaccine to child predators and Nazi and Soviet youth programs.
"White Lives Matter" shirt
A photo of Owens and West was taken at a Paris fashion show earlier this month, where the two wore shirts with the text "White Lives Matter" on them. Like her defense of West's tweets, the photo received much social media backlash.
West had his Twitter and Instagram accounts restricted over his antisemitic posts. Earlier this week, Vogue's Anna Wintour permanently cut decade-long ties with the American rapper, with Adidas following suit on Tuesday by announcing the end of their partnership with Ye due to his rash of offensive, antisemitic behavior.
Gadi Zaig and Tamar Uriel-Beeri contributed to this report.