‘She hates Erika’: Candace Owens shares pre-texts of Charlie Kirk going on a date with a woman he was ‘in love with’
If you thought right-wing drama had already peaked this year, Candace Owens isn’t done yet. On her podcast episode 272, she just cracked open a nostalgia scrapbook nobody asked for, especially not Erika Kirk.
On Dec. 3, Candace Owens streamed another one of her conspiracy-fueled podcasts about the French, Charlie Kirk’s death, and Turning Point. But during a teary monologue, Owens decided the world needed to hear about when she was Charlie’s unofficial dating coach. This was back before his marriage, before the podcasts, and before the movement started devouring itself on live stream.
“I’m going to miss Charlie going on dates and the girls that he liked and me always being the wing-woman and him asking. This text message is one of my favorite text messages between me and Charlie when he was getting ready to go on a date. He didn’t date many people and he was just kind of in love with this girl.”
While reflecting on how much she “misses” him, Owens dove into a story about him dating a girl he was “in love with.” Notably, she skipped right over the part where she tells us whether this was Erika. Because, apparently, nothing spices up a grieving widow’s week like being publicly reminded that her husband once loved someone else. Yet Owens still seemed convinced that this was the heartwarming story the world (and Erika) absolutely needed to hear.
Owens shows Charlie’s old text asking her for outfit advice
She also pulled up the text to validate her story, where Charlie was asking her about his supposed “date” outfit. “He was asking me, ‘Should I wear this?'” she said, before showing everyone the text.
It’s so sweet. He said, ‘Do I have to change this shirt?’ And I wrote back, ‘Yes, and throw it away if you can, Charlie.’ And he writes, ‘Ah, okay.’
She recited the alleged text exchange as if it were a lost letter from the Civil War. Kirk, preparing for a date, asked her if he needed to “change this shirt.” Owens replied, “Yes, and throw it away if you can, Charlie.” Shakespeare who? Dickens where? Apparently, the conservative movement’s defining friendship hinged on getting a Turning Point–branded iron-on disaster out of the frame.
He’s wearing a Turning Point early shirt that somebody I think gave to him. He’s stitched on. Is it stitched on? Is it ironed on? I don’t know. But I was like, “Thy burn it.” Obviously, burn that shirt.
For Owens, these texts marked an era of innocence. “I’m going to miss that youth,” she said mournfully. She described Kirk as “such a good person,” with whom she once “vibed” while trying to understand life’s mysteries. But people didn’t really agree with the story she chose to tell. Discussing the dating life of a man who left a wife and children behind didn’t ring right on social media.
Social media is convinced Candace Owens dislikes Erika Kirk
“It was clearly meant to one-up Erika and dilute what she had with Charlie,” one user on X wrote. The whole ordeal also fueled speculations that Owens was infatuated with Charlie and thus hates Erika. One bluntly called out Owens, saying:
See the look on Candace’s face? That’s infatuation. Her subtle message is obviously, “I love Charlie as much as Erika does, and I knew him longer. He had more than one romantic partner, not just Erika, but he only had one relationship like he had with me.”
Owens’ nostalgia might be genuine. Or it could be strategic, emotional leverage wrapped in wistfulness. We’ll never know. But her distance from the widow of a man she claims to be so close to indicates some tension. Regardless of her personal relationship with Erika, people see her performative sentiment as hateful toward her. Some even called it “deranged,” “reprehensible,” and “evil” behavior.
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