Controversial American commentator Candace Owens has been granted a visa to enter New Zealand after the Government reversed her earlier rejection. But who is Owens, and why are her views so controversial?
Owens is a conservative commentator who has amassed millions of followers on social media and a public supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump.
She has sparked widespread controversy and condemnation over the years, accused of downplaying the holocaust and promoting anti-Semitic tropes, Islamophobic comments, and conspiracy theories about climate change and the Rainbow Community.
In August of this year, Owens came under fire for comments she made in an interview with Tristan Tate, the brother of controversial influencer Andrew Tate. In the interview, Owens equated Jews and Marxists and said the Tsar of Russia was assassinated in the 1880s “under the guise of pogroms”. She also claimed Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin were “part of the Jewish kabal”. There is no evidence Stalin or Lenin were Jewish.
Owens has also faced scrutiny for allegedly downplaying the holocaust.
Is it a win for free speech or a catalyst for more division? (Source: 1News)
On an episode of her podcast in July, Owens dismissed stories of gruesome experiments carried out by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele at Auschwitz during the holocaust as “bizarre propaganda”.
“Even if you’re the most evil person in the world, that’s tremendous waste of time and supplies… That just sounds like bizarre propaganda,” she said.
The crimes committed by Mengele are well documented by historians.
In March, Owens split from the right-wing website The Daily Wire, where she used to have a show, over a reported disagreement with co-founder Ben Shapiro over antisemitism and Israel.
Her controversies surrounding antisemitism date back to 2019 when she appeared to defend Hitler, saying: “If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK fine.”
She later clarified her comments, calling him a “homicidal, psychotic maniac” with “no excuse or defence” for what he did.
Owens has also been known to share conspiracies related to climate change, the LGBTTQIA+ community and Covid-19.
She has claimed that she doesn’t believe in science, calling it a “pagan faith” and a “megachurch”.
During the pandemic, Owens suggested the US military invade Australia, calling lockdowns a “totalitarian regime”, comparing the rules to Hitler, Stalin and the Taliban. She also claimed the pandemic was a “social experiment”.
Owens has also faced criticism from the Black community in the US.
During the 2017 white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Owens released a YouTube video called “I Don’t Care About Charlottesville, the KKK, or White supremacy” and claimed Black people should not be afraid of white supremacy.
In 2022, Owens posted a photo of rapper Kanye West wearing a shirt that read “White Lives Matter”.
Owens’ visa to New Zealand was initially denied after she was barred from Australia. Under the Immigration Act, an individual excluded from another country may not be granted a visa.
That ban was reversed after she appealed to Immigration Minister Chis Penk, who said the decision was based on representations made to him, including the importance of free speech.
