Kanye West Meets With Right-Wing Pundit Candace Owens
It’s barely a week ago that Kanye West, suddenly active again on Twitter, tweeted these words: “I love the way Candace Owens thinks.” With that, West began a furiously discussed Twitter blitzkrieg in which he semi-incoherently praised Donald Trump, posted a photo of himself wearing a Make America Great Again hat, argued with his old friend John Legend, posted video of Dilbert creator Scott Adams praising West’s free thinking in praising Owens, and shared a pair of deeply confounding new songs.
On Saturday, West posted a photo of the teenage anti-gun activist Emma Gonzalez, calling her “my hero,” further muddying the question of whether or not West is fully embracing the country’s right wing. But then, one day later, TMZ reports that West went and hung out in person with Owens. TMZ even has a photo of the two of them together.
Owens is a black right-wing pundit who has said that black people “are focused on their past” when they bemoan slavery and racism, and she has said that Black Lives Matter promotes a “victim mentality”: “I don’t know why people like being oppressed. It’s the weirdest thing I ever heard.”
After West tweeted in praise of Owens, Owens asked West, on Twitter, for a meeting, writing, “I need you to help wake up the black community”:
I’m freaking out. @kanyewest ….please take a meeting with me. I tell every single person that everything that I have been inspired to do, was written in your music.
I am my own biggest fan, because you made it okay. I need you to help wake up the black community. https://t.co/Uz1nB9K0Oz— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 21, 2018
A couple of days before she met with West, Owens referred to Chrissy Teigen, the wife of West’s friend Legend, as “unhinged”:
Can someone please tell @johnlegend that I openly challenge him to a debate regarding his stance that Trump’s policies have harmed people of color but Obama’s policies didn’t?
He has me blocked since his unstable wife attacked me, but I’d love to publicly debate him. https://t.co/jtrbf7JATu— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 26, 2018
“Think with empathy” coming from someone married to Chrissy Teigen is top 10 most ridiculously hypocritical text messages to have ever been sent.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 26, 2018
And the meeting still happened. So that’s cool.
UPDATE: According to Donald Trump Jr., always a reliable source of information, it looks like fellow right-wing pundit and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was also in on this little hang session:
Woah, looks like my pals @realcandaceO and @charlieKirk11 hanging with @kanyeWest yesterday. This should be interesting! pic.twitter.com/a57WvclmCh
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 30, 2018