Candace Owens’ claims about Charlie Kirk condemned by pastor

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 18, 2025US conservative author Candace Owens speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2022 (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, on February 25, 2022. | CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty ImagesA pastor and friend of the late Charlie Kirk cited a Bible verse highlighting the character traits of a true friend in response to claims peddled by Candace Owens after her friend was assassinated.Rob McCoy, the pastor emeritus at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park, California, released a statement on Instagram Tuesday, describing himself as Kirk’s friend and pastor. The pastor serves as the co-chair of TPUSA Faith, which he launched alongside the Turning Point USA founder in 2021.  “Charlie Kirk was a friend to Candace and never publicly spoke poorly of her, though he disagreed with her,” McCoy stated. “He never operated nor entertained gossip or innuendo concerning Candace.” “My only comment I offer regarding Candace is this: I only wish at this tragic time of mourning she would be the friend to Charlie that he was to her,” the pastor added. “He would never have treated Candace or her family in such a way had, God forbid, this tragedy been hers.”“A friend loves at all times …,” he wrote, citing Proverbs 17:17, which states, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”The 31-year-old founder of the conservative nonprofit TPUSA was fatally shot last Wednesday during a Q&A with students at Utah Valley University as part of his “The American Comeback Tour.” Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with Kirk’s murder, which Utah prosecutors argue was a politically motivated attack. The suspect, who was in a relationship with his trans-identifying roommate, reportedly believed Kirk was spreading “hate.” On Monday, Owens claimed on her podcast that the investigation into Kirk’s murder had a “lot of inconsistencies and holes in it.” Throughout the episode, Owens focused on Israel, alleging that the TPUSA founder had become “concerned about Israel and their influence on American politics.”Kirk had allegedly started to change his mind about Israel, which she implied might have played a part in his murder. The pundit commented on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interview with Newsmax after Kirk’s murder, where the host asked the Israeli official for his thoughts on the conspiracy theory that Israel had something to do with the activist’s assassination. Netanyahu rejected the claim, connecting it to a hatred for the Jewish people that has existed for centuries and continued on through the Holocaust. “Ah, well, he mentioned the Holocaust. Guess we can’t prod the narrative any further, guys. Holocaust. So, everybody’s just stopped talking about anything,” Owens said. “I mean, hey, he’s the victim. It’s absurd.” “We’re sick of this s—,” she insisted. “We really are. And there will be no narrative that I will not prod when it comes to figuring out why people are lying about the state that Charlie was in uh, when it came to the topic of Israel.”Owens also alleged that Netanyahu called Kirk earlier this year and attempted to persuade him to visit Israel because the influencer was starting to reverse his support for the Jewish State. In response to Kirk’s supposedly evolving stance on Israel, Owens claimed that Bill Ackman, an American billionaire and hedge fund manager, staged an “intervention.” The billionaire allegedly invited Kirk out to the Hamptons earlier this year, where Owens claimed Ackman threatened the TPUSA founder. “This was an under duress situation, I would say, because I’ve been in these situations before,” the pundit declared. “When I started asking very sensible questions about Israel, as someone who had dedicated her political life to supporting Israel many times alongside Charlie Kirk, I was met with the very same pressure.” In a Monday X post, Ackman disputed Owens’ claims about the meeting, stating that he had never threatened or blackmailed the TPUSA founder. On Tuesday, the billionaire expressed a desire to “put this whole thing to bed” by sharing private messages that he exchanged with Kirk after the meeting. People who were friends with Kirk, including Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” and PragerU host Xaviaer DuRousseau, also disputed Owens’ claims about the meeting. In an opinion piece published by Newsweek yesterday, conservative commentator Josh Hammer, another friend of Kirk’s, accused people like Owens of attempting to “rewrite” the influencer’s legacy for their own “nefarious ends.” Hammer also stressed that Kirk was a “great friend” of the Jewish people and Israel through to the end of his life and referenced a Zoom call that he had with the TPUSA founder hours before his assassination. During the call, Hammer said that he helped Kirk prepare for some of the anti-Israel questions that he expected to hear during his upcoming campus tour, and that Kirk was concerned about a rise in antisemitism. Owens, who worked as a communications director at TPUSA from 2017 to 2019, has repeatedly garnered attention for her comments that many deem antisemitic. In December 2024, the watchdog group StopAntisemitism crowned the political pundit as “Antisemite of the Year,” highlighting statements that Owens has made about the Holocaust, Israel and the Jewish people.Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman