The online conflict between conservative commentators Steven Crowder and Candace Owens has escalated.
Crowder told his audience Tuesday on his Louder With Crowder show that he and his wife Hilary had been going through an increasingly “horrendous divorce” since 2021.
He suggested he kept the issue quiet for “far too long,” but other people behind the scenes knew about the proceedings.
“Some, not all, but some of them in positions of power, influence, and leverage knew of this. They also knew the safety of my children included keeping it private. So if you’re familiar with the idea of extortion then you know the feeling well, now some of these threats were so thinly veiled that I’m frankly surprised. You didn’t all guess immediately.”
Steven Crowder drops the news on @rumblevideo that he is going through a divorce, basically accuses Candace Owens of extortion & hints he might take legal action if needed for anyone discussing his divorce in a way he deems too far. pic.twitter.com/s5EXPUC3Pk
— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) April 25, 2023
Crowder then played a clip from the Candace Owens show dated January 24, 2023, where she says, “Steven has a lot going on. That’s the best way to say it.”
She adds that people should not condemn him, but pray for him.
“You know, Steven purports to be a Christian. I am unsure at this moment, if it is my place to say more than that. You know, maybe if I feel in further defense, something should be said, or maybe if I feel that the public has a right to understand certain circumstances,” Owens said.
Though not said outright, Crowder appears to feel this clip from Owens was a form of extortion.
After playing the Owens video, Crowder took aim at “self-styled Christians, conservatives and allies.”
He said that there had been demands and threats from “behind the scenes” to use this information to embarrass him and his wife.
“I don’t want to get into details so this is going to likely be the only time I have to address this or want to address this– if you’re asking yourself, hey did X person or did Y person now? The answer is likely yes.”
Crowder notes repeatedly that the privacy and safety of his children in this matter is of top-most priority.
“Discussing a divorce any further on social media or on this show or in any public space is not what’s best for them,” he said. “I’ll be handling this through the proper legal avenues and channels available as a matter of record in which I have more than full confidence. So I’d ask that you understand the need for and respect our privacy in what is obviously a pretty tough time. And I hope that none of this has to go any further than that.”
In response to Crowder’s show, Owens immediately took to Twitter. She tweeted that Crowder accusing her of extortion is “so patently insane” that it makes her question how people don’t see how “undone he has become.”
She called his actions “not stable behavior” and “outright bizarre and concerning.”
Steven Crowder accusing me of extortion is so patently insane that it honestly makes me question how there are still people who cannot see how thoroughly undone he has become.
This is not stable behavior. He is a man on a spiral.
Outright bizarre and concerning.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 25, 2023
In a follow-up tweet, Owens tagged Crowder and accused him of using his children as human shields to stop people looking further at his divorce.
“To remind people–the video Steven used in his show of me was a video of me RESPONDING to Steven’s first set of bizarre attacks against the Daily Wire. Steven is not the victim. He never was the victim. He’s just a bad person who continues to burn a lot of people.”
Owens also hit back on her own video titled, “Steven Crowder Accused Me Of Extortion.”
In response to his accusations she said, “It’s shocking to me that a man with his following would be stupid enough to put this on his platform.”
“He’s now upping the ante and suggesting I somehow extorted him… So what I did this morning, after this clip was sent to me, is I contacted a defamation lawyer and I am sending Steven Crowder a cease and desist. And I’m going to demand a full-throated retraction to the idea that Candace Owens threatened him or extorted him and not that I simply did a little math. One plus one equals two.”
Today @RealCandaceO said she will sue Crowder!
She also issued an open invitation to Crowder's wife to talk about their divorce! Fucking lol!
Don't know why Crowder talked about Candace today. Sounds to me that is to distract from the recent accusations made by his ex co-host. pic.twitter.com/2bF3SwUx7p— Dame Pesos 🌮 (@cenkpesos) April 26, 2023
Owens then extended an invitation to Hilary Crowder to come on her show and talk about “what’s actually going on.”
This is not the first time Owens and Crowder have been in public conflict.
This particular feud goes back to January when Crowder turned down a $50 million deal with Owens’ network, Daily Wire.
On his show, Crowder went through his proposed Daily Wire contract. He explained that, in his view, this form of agreement hurt talent and penalized them for being censored by social media giants like YouTube.
At the time, several hosts at the Daily Wire backed their outlet, including Owens, who responded to the controversy in a clip from January, 2023. She said that Crowder’s handling of the Daily Wire deal, where they refused to sign him at $120 million, was “a bitch move.”
At the end of her rant, Candace alludes to another time that Steven “threw mud” on her. “The first time via a tweet a long time ago, you’re not doing it a second time. Total bitch move.”
During the current conflict, Owens also said that Crowder is too “scared” to address fellow creator Owen Benjamin, who is thought to have first leaked information about Crowder’s divorce.
He was too scared to address Owen Benjamin so he just randomly pretended that I outted his divorce.
Real tough guy.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 26, 2023
“He was too scared to address Owen Benjamin so he just randomly pretended that I outted his divorce. Real tough guy,” she said.
Many friends and colleagues were already aware of the divorce between Steven and his wife Hilary, as it was filed on December 7, 2021, in Denton County, Texas. The filing shows that the petitioner was Hilary, and the case is being overseen by Judge Sherry Shipman.
