Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro denies Candace Owens was axed over Israel comments

Ben Shapiro denied that Candace Owens parted ways with the right-leaning news and commentary site the Daily Wire because of “disagreements over Israel” — though he hinted that her comments veered outside of the company’s “Overton window.”

Shapiro, who co-founded the Daily Wire alongside Jeremy Boreing, cited “a lot of other factors … at play” that led to the departure of the conservative commentator last week.

Before her departure, Owens had been a vocal critic of Israel for launching military operations in Gaza following the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas that killed at least 1,200 Israelis

She has since resurfaced on Locals, a subscription-based video and newsletter platform.

“She’s free to do whatever she wants to do, to be wherever she wants to be,” Shapiro told podcaster Dave Rubin on Thursday when asked about Owens.

Shapiro said that while Locals is a “platform [which] should have a very broad range of speech that it allows,” the Daily Wire is a “publisher” that “would have no obligation” to pay someone whose views are not “inside what they would consider to be the Overton window.”