Jake Tapper of CNN has criticized the followers of Candace Owens, labeling them as ‘bigoted’ amid her ongoing conflict with Ben Shapiro.

Although Owens did not attend the Turning Point USA AmericaFest event on Thursday, her name became a focal point of discussion during the chaotic first day.

The gathering quickly descended into internal strife among conservatives when an exasperated Shapiro criticized fellow conservatives for not denouncing Owens’ conspiracy theories.

Tapper shared a video of Owens responding to Shapiro’s remarks on Sunday, commenting to his audience: “It’s astonishing that this fervent antisemite, who perpetuates lies and outdated bigoted nonsense, is a favored voice in conservative circles.

“It’s equally disheartening that influential conservative figures, whom I once believed knew better, either support her or remain silent.”

In the footage, Owens is seen displaying a book from 1871, which is widely considered antisemitic propaganda. The book, “The Talmudic Jew,” critiques the Talmud—the foundational text of Rabbinic Judaism that guides Jewish daily life.

Owens used the text to attack Shapiro’s faith, saying ‘You have absolutely no values that exist outside of the Talmud.’

‘That’s what your people believe in. You believe that you are contract lords and that people are not allowed to violate contracts, so you will ruin them for years,’ she said.

‘I’ve put up with a lot of it, but today I draw the line. I draw the line with this miserable imp when it comes to Charlie Kirk.

CNN star Jake Tapper took to X to slam Candace Owens as antisemitic on Sunday, after Owens was seen flaunting a copy of a 1871 book widely seen as antisemtic propaganda on her show Friday

Owens had been responding to a speech from Ben Shapiro at the first Turning Point USA AmericaFest conference since the death of founder Charlie Kirk in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday, accusing her of engaging in antisemitic conspiracy theories

‘Don’t try me on this, but you keep trying me on this. You are an impostor, Ben. You’re an impostor.

‘You pay to pretend that you’re friends, that you have a right to be on that stage because you get donors to pressure people, because you know Jewish people who can threaten to take money, where you say, I’m going to do an advertising spend.   

Shapiro, meanwhile, used his podium time to slam Owens’ repeated claims that Israel may have played a part in Kirk’s death, which has caused her popularity to skyrocket.

‘The people who refuse to condemn Candace’s truly vicious attacks, and some of them are speaking here, are guilty of cowardice. Yes, cowardice,’ Shapiro told the crowd, calling figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly ‘charlatans’ and ‘grifters.’

‘The fact that they have said nothing while Candace has been vomiting all sorts of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years is just as cowardly,’ Shapiro said.   

He urder another point told the audience: ‘We have an obligation to clarity and to honesty.

‘We should not traffic in generality. We should not say things like, “They shot Charlie” without specifying whom we mean by they.’

Owens has accused Turning Point USA of participating in or hiding the truth about its founders’ death at various points since Kirk’s assassination.

Owens used the text to attack Shapiro’s faith, saying ‘You have absolutely no values that exist outside of the Talmud’ 

She revived this claim during an interview with New York Magazine on Monday, where, over the course of 3,500 words, she explained she has devoted most of her time to an investigation into Kirk’s murder.

Owens does not believe was carried out by 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson.

She claimed that her quest for truth was only made possible by abandoning any loyalty to the Trump administration, Turning Point, and the GOP.

She also said that she would rather be called a ‘moderate’ than a conservative, despite her hardline views.

She also recalled a dream she said had shortly after Kirk’s death where the slain youth leader ‘said he was betrayed.’

‘And then I said, “By who?”‘ she recalled.

‘I saw one person who I recognized in that dream, who is at Turning Point. I woke up and I texted him immediately, and I said, “I just had a dream and Charlie told me you betrayed him.”‘

Owens viewership, meanwhile, has benefited from her discourse about Kirk’s assassination.

At various points since Kirk’s assassination last September, Owens has accused Turning Point USA of participating in or hiding the truth about its founders’ death

She currently has 5.8million subscribers on YouTube, making her one of the most-watched people in the world.

She left a job at Shapiro’s Daily Wire after four years in 2024, after rising to fame as a fringe, far-righ internet personality  in 2018.

In June of that year, she received praise from Donald Trump when a video of her berating black protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles, as ‘privileged Americans’ obsessed with ‘shouting about slavery’ took off.

.Shortly after, rapper and outspoken antisemite Kanye West tweeted, ‘I love the way Candace Owens thinks.’ 

At the time, Owens worked as the communications director of Turning Point USA. She resigned in 2019 following a controversy over comments she made about Adolf Hitler.

She referred to the 20th century dictator’s desire ‘to make Germany great’ as ‘fine.’

The problem is that he wanted – he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize, he wanted everybody to be German, everybody to be speaking German,’ she said.