US pundit denied entry to Australia

Candace Owens has history of making controversial claims about Jews and Muslims, including expressing doubt over the Holocaust

Right-wing US commenter Candace Owens has been banned from entering Australia for a scheduled speaking tour, as the country’s authorities claim she has the “capacity to incite discord,” media have reported.

Australian Immigration Minister Tony Burke confirmed on Sunday that an online influencer’s visa application has been rejected, saying “Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”

Owens, who has 18 million followers on YouTube, is known for her controversial views on race, gender, and social issues. Her Australia tour was to include shows in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. It caused controversy due to the history of her remarks, including claims about Jewish, Muslim and transgender people that have been widely criticized as inflammatory and anti-Semitic.

“From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about [Nazi doctor Josef] Mengele through to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction,” Burke said in a statement.

In July, Owens questioned the authenticity of well-documented medical experiments on Jewish twins performed by the notoriously cruel Nazi Doctor Josef Mengele in concentration camps during World War II, describing the evidence as “completely absurd” and “bizarre propaganda.”

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Owens has also been accused of anti-Semitism before, and was fired from conservative news outlet Daily Wire earlier this year for accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, and claiming that a “small ring” of “political Jews” in the US “use the fact that they are Jewish to shield themselves from any criticism.”

Owens’ remarks sparked a public feud with Daily Wire’s Jewish co-founder, Ben Shapiro, who called them “disgraceful.”

In August, Jewish groups in Australia reportedly called for Owens’ visa to be canceled. The Anti-Defamation League, a US-based group which campaigned to have her visa revoked, said she has “come to espouse explicitly anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-Israel views.”

LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Glaad has accused Owens of spreading anti-transgender views after she claimed in 2020 that the movement for trans equality “is one of the most dangerous” and “evil” things that is happening.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the 35-year-old media personality stirred controversy after suggesting the US military “invade Australia and free an oppressed people who are suffering under a totalitarian regime.”