Was Candace Owens referring to Holocaust victims when mentioning 'white genocide' and when did she say it?
Executive summary
Candace Owens has repeatedly drawn criticism for comments that critics and several outlets characterize as Holocaust minimization, distortion or denial; reporting cites episodes including a July 2024 podcast and public posts after October 2023 that questioned aspects of the Holocaust and Nazi crimes [1] [2]. Authorities and advocacy groups — and countries such as Australia when denying her a visa — cited her Holocaust-related remarks among reasons for condemnation [3] [2].
1. What she said and when — the episodes cited by reporting
Reporting identifies a July 2024 podcast episode in which Owens is said to have engaged in Holocaust distortion and denial, drawing significant backlash, and other public statements since October 2023 that question widely accepted accounts of Nazi crimes and experiments [1]. Commentary and news outlets also cite earlier incidents — including public remarks about Josef Mengele’s experiments and questioning the scale or character of the Holocaust — as part of a pattern that crystallized in 2024 and continued into 2025 coverage [4] [2].
2. Did she use the phrase “white genocide” and target Holocaust victims?
Available sources document Owens minimizing or questioning Holocaust facts and criticizing Holocaust education, but the reviewed reporting does not provide a direct quote of Owens using the specific phrase “white genocide” in reference to Holocaust victims; those sources instead describe broader Holocaust denial/minimization and comments about Nazi-era events [1] [2]. Therefore, not found in current reporting: a cited instance where Owens explicitly used the phrase “white genocide” to refer to Holocaust victims.
3. How outlets describe her intent and impact
Advocacy groups and news outlets frame Owens’s remarks as antisemitic and as Holocaust distortion. The Anti-Defamation League summarized that Owens “engaged in Holocaust distortion and denial” in a July 2024 episode, arguing those comments undermined understanding of the Holocaust [1]. Opinion and editorial pieces likewise call her commentary dangerous and part of a shift toward explicit antisemitism after October 2023 [5] [6].
4. Government and platform responses cited in reporting
Reporting shows institutional consequences tied to her Holocaust-related remarks: the Australian government canceled Owens’s visa in October 2024, with the immigration minister explicitly referencing her downplaying of the Holocaust among rationales for denial [3] [2]. News coverage and editorial commentary document social and platform backlash as well, including suspensions and widespread condemnation [1] [5].
5. Competing perspectives in the record
Some conservative outlets and commentators continue to platform Owens or defend her as a contrarian voice; other outlets and Jewish organizations characterize her comments as antisemitic and Holocaust denial [7] [1]. The provided sources emphasize the latter view more prominently and document institutional actions taken in response to that characterization [1] [2].
6. What the sources do not show
Available sources do not contain a contemporaneous transcript or single definitive quotation where Owens says the exact phrase “white genocide” about Holocaust victims; they also do not provide her complete defense in full for every contested statement cited [1] [2]. For claims beyond the supplied reporting — such as detailed chronology of every relevant social-media post or the precise language of every on-air remark — available sources do not mention those items.
7. Why this matters: context and consequences
Journalists and advocacy groups cited in these sources treat Holocaust minimization and denial as more than rhetorical provocation: they document reputational and legal consequences (visa denial, platform penalties) and warn of real-world harm in normalizing distortion of mass atrocity [3] [5] [2]. Opposing voices argue Owens is exercising contrarian speech; reporting indicates that governments and watchdogs judged certain remarks beyond acceptable discourse [3] [1].
If you want, I can pull direct quotes and timestamps from the specific July 2024 episode and relevant social posts cited in the ADL and Australian-visa coverage — or search for any instances where Owens actually used the phrase “white genocide” in the supplied corpus.