As this ‘feud’ between Candace Owens and Erika Kirk has been heating up, I have been telling you that I would have something to say on it in the coming days, and I do.
I had an exchange with Ben Shapiro during the Megyn Kelly Live tour, in which he said Candace had accused Erika of orchestrating Charlie’s murder. I was taken aback because I had not heard that. In the interim between that night and the next, I had my staff go research exactly what Candace had said.
I had been planning on saying something during the following show because, if it was not true, I did not want to have something that heavy hanging out there. But someone in the audience actually asked me about it during the Q&A the very next night, and I said, “That’s actually not true.”
At that time, it was not true. Candace had not accused Erika of orchestrating Charlie’s murder. I have gotten a lot of grief for saying that, but I was correct. We are relentlessly factual here in this program. Candace had impugned Turning Point USA, and I realize Erika is CEO – but she was not until after Charlie died. Saying the guys at Turning Point had done something prior to Charlie’s death is not the same as saying Erika Kirk had.
It may seem to you like a distinction without a difference, but we really do care about facts and being precise here. We don’t always get it right, but that is a big one to get wrong.
Rising Tensions
Since then, Candace has been more focused on Erika Kirk, and I think that is because Erika went on a media tour and started clearly speaking out about Candace. It turned into a rather explosive situation last week when Erika went on with Harris Faulkner on Fox News and said, very clearly, she wants these “conspiracy theories” to stop – especially about Turning Point USA, which she called her “Turning Point family.” She was clearly upset.
And then Erika did a town hall with Bari Weiss on CBS News, where she explicitly told Candace to “stop.” Here is how that exchange went:
WEISS: The podcaster Candace Owens – at one time a friend of Charlie’s, at one time an employee of Turning Point – she has been one of the main peddlers of these conspiracies, and she’s making a huge amount of money on it. She’s building her business off of these lies. What do you want to say to her and the other people that are putting these lies out into the world right now?
KIRK: Stop. [pause] That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Stop.
I think Candace felt she was saying, “Stop lying.” Candace’s defense is that she is not lying and she is actually trying to do an investigation into the true killer of Charlie Kirk. I have said before and I will say again: I think they have the true killer of Charlie Kirk in custody. His name is Tyler Robinson, and I have every reason to believe that he committed this murder.
Many people disagree with me. Many people believe there is more to this story, that we are being lied to by our FBI, that there are too many inconsistencies around the official story. Those people are more than entitled to that belief. I don’t share it. That’s fine. This is America. You can feel differently about these things.
But with things ratcheting up between Erika and Candice last week, many people had been asking me why I wasn’t saying anything. Obviously, I love Erica Kirk. I do. I love her, and I feel protective of her because she is in an extremely vulnerable state right now. Yes, she has taken on the CEO position of Turning Point. It is a fair question to ask whether that is a job she can do right now while she is at the height of her grieving. I take no position on that. I think she is doing fine.
I don’t like to see Erika get attacked at all. I wish that would stop. And to be honest, I wish Candace wouldn’t be pursuing the Turning Point narrative at all – never mind Erika. Again, she hasn’t graduated to blaming Erika for Charlie’s murder. She was criticizing her and the media tour, and that is fair game.
Candace knows I disagree with her on this. Petty internet people want to turn that into a cat fight between Candice and yours truly, which will fail. She and I actually have only gotten closer over the past couple of months as people try to make me attack her. I have no obligation to you to hate the people you hate or try to bring down the people you want brought down. If that is what you want from me, you do need to move on. It is not going to happen. And I have learned a lot behind the scenes from Candace about some of the things that she has been put through from people I used to respect.
The Sit-Down
On Monday, Erika and Candace had a sit-down meeting for four and a half hours. They met face to face in Nashville, and they apparently made a lot of progress. After the meeting, Candace tweeted:
“Erika and I had an extremely productive 4 1/2 hour meeting that I think we both feel should have taken place a lot earlier than it did.
We agreed much more than I had anticipated. Of course, we also disagreed on various points and people as well. Most importantly, we were able to share intel and clarify intent.
I will of course have a full rundown for you all tomorrow as I am currently exhausted, but I wanted to quickly let you guys know that absolutely nothing was held back and the immediate result was that tensions were thawed.”
Erika posted something similar 10 minutes later. “Had a very productive conversation with @RealCandaceO,” she wrote on X. “More to come from both of us. Looking forward to AmFest this week. Time to get back to work.”
BTS Role
I will let Erika and the Turning Point crew and Candace Owens fill you in on what happened at that meeting and so on. But because many of my viewers have been wondering why I haven’t said anything given my previous statements about Erika, I just wanted to let you know that the reason is that I have been working behind the scenes to try to foster a détente between them.
Erika called me weeks ago and asked me if I would be part of this sit down with them, which they originally contemplated releasing to the public in some way, shape, or form. She asked if I would facilitate that meeting between the two of them, and I said yes immediately. I reached out to Candace and she said, ‘Absolutely, I’m thrilled it’s you. I’m in.’ And the two of them took it from there, trying to negotiate the specifics of what they would both be comfortable with.
Eventually, it changed to a private conversation after they hit some roadblocks. That is for someone else to tell you about, if they so choose. But they decided to do it privately, and I thought that was a great idea. I fully supported it, and I have been in touch with both of them repeatedly.
So, that is what I have been doing. I understand my core audience knows who I am and would never have assumed the worst about me – that I was just abandoning Erika, or getting ready to pounce on Candace, or inserting myself into one side of this. I am not getting ready to do that, and I don’t want that. I don’t think that is God’s role for me here.
I really fully believe God’s role for me here is to possibly play a part in getting this whole thing to a better place. I think I might be in a position to help construct that. Maybe not. But sitting here in my studio in Connecticut just slinging mud at one side or the other or tearing people down or expressing my disgust and outrage, that is pointless. My goal and my job here, I think, is to try to understand. People who care about Candace and love Erika have been in a tough position as this whole thing has escalated.
I also care about Turning Point. I deeply do, and I will make sure that their legacy is not destroyed. I will do everything within my power to help them thrive, including supporting my own kids in forming a Turning Point chapter, and going out to AmFest and helping headline that event, and encouraging everyone I know within the conservative movement to go and support them and to donate.
That doesn’t mean I need to sling mud at somebody who sees it differently than I do, and it especially doesn’t mean I should remove myself from a position that I think few hold, where I might be able to actually help this thing get to a better place.
There are so many really important battles that we are going to have to fight together against the radical left. And if there is any way that strain of argument and contention can be dissipated or can be managed to a place where it is not quite as upsetting, then I would like to be that person, if I can.
This isn’t about me. It is about Candace and Erika, and I commend both of them. It took a lot of guts for both of them to meet. I will let them take it from here, but I wanted to tell you what my role in it has been.
Message for Critics
And I will just say this final thing to the hateful people, whom I used to call friends, who have been all over the internet trying to shame me and say that no one should ever listen to this program again because I haven’t spoken out on the Erika-Candace conflict.
I don’t have any pearls of wisdom other than: Go fuck yourselves. You have no clue what is going on. You don’t know what I do behind the scenes. And your world is so myopically online, you fail to understand there are real humans involved here and actually being able to touch grass and have relationships with them, which is something I am doing, could prove to benefit all involved. Maybe it won’t at all, but it’s at least got a shot. I am not sure your X shame game has gotten anything of value done.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,214 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.