Candace Owens’ Trailer for Docuseries on Erika Kirk Conspiracy Theories Sees Instant Backlash
Candace Owens is facing fresh backlash after she revealed a new weapon in her arsenal in her battle against Charlie Kirk’s widow and Turning Points USA CEO Erika Kirk, who overtook his role after his assassination last year: a multi-part docuseries that looks to expose the former beauty queen’s past and motivations. The trailer for Bride of Charlie, released late on Monday, brought a swift reaction, with several right-wing conservatives calling the far-right pundit and podcaster “evil.”
Owens, who worked under founder Charlie Kirk at TPUSA as the political conservative non-profit college organization’s communications director until 2019, has been sharing her thoughts on Erika Kirk on the podcast she hosts, Candace, since shortly after he was gunned down last fall at a Utah Valley University speaking event. The 37-year-old widow, whose widespread approval among GOP lawmakers crystallized when she received a standing ovation at President Trump’s State of the Union address in Washington on Tuesday night, was initially scrutinized for some of her behavior in the wake of her husband’s death; the details of these moments and Erika Kirk’s compelling past appears to be the blood that Owens smelled in the water as she looks to discredit and expose the right-wing pundit’s widow.
The trailer for Bride of Charlie, which appears to be a multi-episode docuseries, goes for the widow’s jugular. Opening with news reports of Charlie Kirk’s murder, Erika is seen sobbing for her husband in a few brief clips but beaming in the next, decked out in a glittering sequined pantsuit as she steps out on stage at December’s TPUSA AmericaFest conference. Later, she’s posing for photo ops with fans in a replica of her late husband’s famous “debate me” booth and throwing out to the crowd some of the 50,000 Charlie Kirk memorial hats being sold at TPUSA events.
Erika Kirk’s behavior in this period of grief was certainly questioned, and not just by Owens and other far-right commentators. The Washington Post ran a style piece leadline, “Erika Kirk is Walking A Fine Line In A Glittering Pantsuit,” and her mic’d moment of mourning at her late husband’s casket certainly raised eyebrows. The trailer allows Kirk to offer her own explanation: “Everyone grieves differently, so if someone’s acting weird, don’t read into that,” the widow says in a Zoom interview.
While some raised questions about Erika Kirk, then moved on and forgot about them, Owens apparently saw a vast conspiracy — or maybe, an opportunity — and has spent months rattling off conspiracy theories involving Erika Kirk. The remainder of the trailer flicks at these while carrying on with her suggestion that Erika Kirk is up to no good. The conspiracy theories and potentially unflattering bedfellows are then rattled off — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Romanian church accused in a child trafficking scandal. It concludes with footage of Erika Kirk, edited to look far more sinister as she overtook the powerful conservative organization last year, displayed alongside multiple talking heads (not Owens, notably) who question her actions.
The backlash to the trailer has been loud and angry. It’s also growing and is directed entirely at Owens, who multiple pundits and commenters have called “evil” for producing the series, for sharing the trailer and for suggesting that a conspiracy to kill and replace Charlie Kirk happened at TPUSA.
“Pure, unadulterated, fucking evil,” Meghan McCain wrote on X. “Who in God’s name would put a woman whose husband was brutally assassinated in front of the entire world through this? I am so upset by this, I am just so deeply sorry Erika and her family have to be put through this.”
Ben Shapiro posted a video to X to ensure all listeners know he believes Owens to be “evil,” too. Owens and the popular right-wing thought leader have been butting heads for a while now, with the death of Charlie Kirk a central topic. Their rift has been a central fault point in the rift emerging on the far-right amid President Trump’s second term and the stakes seemed to climb on Shapiro’s most recent episode
“She’s a conspiratorial evil person,” Shapiro told his audience. “Apparently, she is calling Erica Kirk a lesbian pedophile grooming a 15-year-old. She has been suggesting for a while that TPUSA was complicit, if not in the murder of Charlie Kirk, then in the cover-up of the murder of Charlie Kirk. This is the stuff that Candace Owens has been doing, because Candace Owens is a true vampire.”
Shapiro suggested that Erika Kirk “sue the living hell out of Candace Owens for this sort of stuff.” While there are no records of her filing any legal complaint on the matter, Owens is being sued by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, over her claims that the latter is actually a man.
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