Nick Fuentes called Candace Owens a ‘Uncle Tom’ ‘DEI hire’ before Charlie Kirk’s death— here’s what it reveals about right-wing infighting

Before and after Charlie Kirk’s killing on Sept. 10, some of the right’s loudest voices have turned on each other — exposing deep fractures in the GOP and raising questions about its future in the aftermath.

Charlie Kirk’s death in Utah on September 10 has sparked a tremendous amount of political discussion around “free speech” and “differing opinions.” While the narrative put forth by some is that there has been some mainstream jubilation and celebration by liberals because of the death of the controversial right-wing personality, the truth is the vast majority of people—even those who stood in direct opposition to nearly every view held by Kirk—have condemned the killing as tragic and senseless. Everybody from Don Lemon to President Obama has spoken out against murder of any divisive figure for any reason. 

Interestingly, its loud voices on the right have found themselves in political crosshairs in the wake of Kirk’s death. Two prominent figures—Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes—have come under fire for different reasons surrounding his passing. 

Owens, for instance, has floated conspiracy theories suggesting that Kirk was murdered because he chose not to fall in line regarding Israel, creating a rift between he and several billionaires, like Bill Ackman (who has since denied any and all accusations suggesting he had anything to do with the death of Kirk). Owens referred to Kirk as her “best friend,” after he passed; Owens and Kirk were friends and—at one point—colleagues at Turning Point USA. Owens, whose own stance on Israel has often put her at odds with many in the conservative movement, has been a trending topic since the passing of Kirk, chiefly for their relationship but mostly because of her belief that a conspiracy was at play in his death. 

Fuentes, on the other hand, was a person who felt that Charlie Kirk wasn’t quite far-right enough. Fuentes, a white nationalist who has been labeled a “white supremacist” by the FBI, became attached to the death of Kirk because the man accused of killing him—Tyler Robinson—may have had some adjacency to “Groypers,” a group aligned with Fuentes that found itself being blamed, in part, for creating animosity against Kirk for allegedy not being conservative enough. Many of Fuentes’ followers viewed Kirk as a “fake” conservative, taking issue with several of his stances as not being far-right enough. At one point, Fuentes’ followers took it upon themselves to disrupt Turning Point events. Fuentes at one point famously dined with President Trump—sparking outcry from even the GOP—but now has turned against Trump over several issues. 

Despite the differences, there were some issues related to Black people, where both Kirk and Fuentes had been critiqued.

For instance, Kirk famously said that a group of Black women, including Michelle Obama and Ketanji Brown Jackson, were DEI hires who took jobs rightly earned by white people. Fuentes—in an interview with Candace Owens—said that Black people were essentially naturally not smart, and imperialism and colonization were (paraphrasing here) perhaps the only way sub-Saharan Africans would have been introduced to technology of any sort.

Though Fuentes was a guest on Owens’ podcast in July 2025, the two had a falling out shortly after, with Fuentes referring to Owens as an Uncle Tom, token Black and DEI hire. “You are a diversity hire, you are a DEI hire, you pander,” Fuentes said of Owens. “She thinks she’s some kind of boss b-tch. Yeah you’re a b-tch but you didn’t get that way because you’re some sort of super smart boss. You got that way because you’re a super bitchy Black token. Like it is, what it is.”

He also included Jason Whitlock in this criticism—who only became notable because of the “grift of diversity” and because of quotas.  

While much of the country feels like it is fighting along ideological and political lines, even some of the right’s most visible personalities are being dragged into their own infighting. What happens next may determine the direction of the Republican Party and its younger voters in the post-Kirk era.