Will Kanye West, Candace Owens wear ‘Jewish Lives Matter’ t-shirts?

Owens said that West’s offensive Twitter tirade is “not the beginning of a Holocaust.”

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Rapper Kanye West and political commentator Candace Owens recently made headlines and earned harsh criticism from left-wing figures after sporting “White Lives Matter” t-shirts at Paris Fashion Week.

Owens, an African-American and an outspoken conservative, has often drawn ire from liberal media outlets and celebrities due to her opinions, which typically are in stark contrast to the prevailing left-wing orthodoxy.

But the backlash against her “White Lives Matter” shirt was particularly vicious. Owens told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the response to her fashion statement was indicative of “undeniable, widespread hatred” of white people in the U.S.

“We put on t-shirt to actually do something that was inclusive, to say, actually, White Americans, you are allowed to be a part of this, too, because literally all lives matter,” she explained.

“The saddest part of this, is that after wearing the shirt and getting back here down in Tennessee, I went to a farmer’s market and I had white people coming up to me with tears in their eyes. And I told Kanye this – [they said] thank you so much – as if they are the forgotten people — is allowing us to have our voices back,” she said.

“They’ve been sitting in silence, completely sidelined, told that they are not allowed to be American because there’s a vicious narrative around that. Somehow black Americans are suffering from policing and therefore white lives can’t matter. They do. It’s obvious Kanye was correct.”

Although Owens has been forthcoming about her support for white people in the face of Critical Race Theory and other divisive ideologies now common in both the corporate and educational spaces in the U.S., she did not defend Jews with the same level of vigor after West went on an antisemitic Twitter tirade.

Earlier this week, West threatened to “go Death Con 3 on Jewish people,” whom he believes had manipulated his friend, the rapper Diddy, into sending him a message criticizing him for the White Lives Matter shirt.

In a series of tweets, West also specifically called out Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, said that black people are Jews so it is “actually impossible” for him to be antisemitic, and accused powerful Jews of “blackballing” anyone who doesn’t “go along” with their “agenda.”

But rather than speaking up for Jews in the same manner that she did for whites, Owens defended West, saying that he is not antisemitic and that the tweets are clearly nonsensical.

“If you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was antisemitic,” Owens said Monday on an epsiode of her eponymous talk show. “You did not think that he wrote this tweet because he hates or wants to genocide Jewish people. This is not the beginning of a Holocaust.”

She added that West’s “Death Con 3” comment was likely a botched reference to the U.S.’s missile attack preparedness level DEFCON 3, which “would be a military defense position – not an offense position for those of you who are offended.”

Media backlash could also be the trigger for his screed, she wrote. “Is [West] tweeting this because he’s reading the Newsweek headline – calling him antisemitic? Is he angry because he can’t believe he’s not free to talk about people in his life who happen to be Jewish without being accused of antisemitism?”

While Owens has certainly earned her reputation as being unafraid to oppose the dominant narrative being pushed in elite cultural and educational circles, it appears that she does not view West’s Twitter attack on Jews with any concern.

Don’t expect to see Owens or West wearing a “Jewish Lives Matter” shirt any time soon.

AntisemitismBlack Lives MatterCandace OwensKanye West