Why Candace Owens is trending in the aftermath of ‘best friend’ Charlie Kirk’s death

Candace Owens’s commentary on his death has renewed focus on her years-long history with the late Charlie Kirk.

Grief does weird things. For some, it leads to heartfelt tributes and quiet reflection. For Candace Owens, it has sparked a loud and controversial detour into conspiracy theories.

The conservative commentator is under fire after using her YouTube channel to suggest that Charlie Kirk’s killing last week in Utah was not a random act of violence. Instead, Owens has claimed Kirk was targeted because of his outspoken views on Israel, even going so far as to allege that a tense private meeting with billionaire Bill Ackman and others in the Hamptons was part of a larger plot. 

“You don’t think they wanted Charlie silenced because he wouldn’t fall in line on Israel?” she told her audience during a recent livestream.

Her theory quickly met pushback, not just from critics but from the people she directly named. Ackman himself issued a lengthy statement denying her account, calling it “reckless and false.” He insisted he never threatened Kirk, never blackmailed him, and never offered money to sway his views. Natasha Hausdorff, one of the people Owens claimed was in the room, also spoke out, rejecting Owens’ depiction of a heated or hostile confrontation.

Owens’s commentary has brought renewed focus to her complicated history with Kirk. She first rose alongside him in 2017 at Turning Point USA, where she served as communications director before resigning two years later under pressure after controversial remarks about Hitler. Before she stepped down, the two forged a close friendship, supporting each other even as they each walked down the aisle with their respective spouses. 

“I met him back in 2017, when Turning Point was this very young organisation. Nobody knew who I was, nobody knew who Charlie Kirk was,” she said in a video tribute to him shortly after his death. 

Their relationship, however, occasionally weathered public strains—she launched her own BLEXIT movement, briefly merged it back into Turning Point in 2023, and later split with The Daily Wire over her criticism of Israel. After resigning from TPUSA, Owens continued to build her own following while remaining tied to Kirk in the eyes of the public—as both a protégé who had flamed out and a figure who never truly left his orbit.  

By his death, Owens described Kirk as her “best friend” and “like a brother,” but they operated primarily as independent voices on the right. In the tribute video, she spoke at length about their friendship, what she admired about him, and even shared footage of them together rapping to Kanye West songs before events, she expressed her hope for his legacy.

She noted how she doesn’t want “Charlie’s caricature to survive when the actual Charlie Kirk individual, who Charlie Kirk actually is, is so much more important.”