Right-wing political commentator Candace Owens speaks during an event held by national conservative political movement ‘Turning Point’, in Detroit, Michigan, US, June, 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Political commentator Candace Owens criticized the satirical news outlet The Babylon Bee on her podcast on Monday, referring to it as the “Zionist Bee” and “Babylonian Talmudic Bee,” after it made a joke about Owens’ fixation on Jews and Israel.

“Candace Owens Horrified to Learn Christmas Was Started by Birth of a Jew,” a headline from The Babylon Bee read in the days leading up to Christmas. 

Seth Dillon, the owner of The Babylon Bee, wrote on X/Twitter that “the joke is that Candace is obsessed with Jews. It’s funny because it’s true; it’s been true for a long time.”

He continued, “It would be strange if we never joked about it. Then she proved it was true by getting mad and saying we attack Christians and never make fun of Jews because we have a secret agenda that she wants to expose — conspiratorial nonsense that made the whole thing funnier.”

Owens, a far-right provocateur and media personality, responded on X/Twitter, arguing that Dillon was acting in bad faith. “You and I do not have a personal relationship. We *had* a personal relationship when I stuck my neck out for you when your ‘friends’ attempted to stage a hostile takeover of your company,” she wrote. “We fast forward to this year and when my world seemingly came crashing down and my family was fighting, you didn’t even hesitate — you piled on.”

Owens then addressed the joke on her show as well, saying it has become obvious that the satirical news site has become like the “Zionist Bee” or the “Babylonian Talmudic Bee.”

“It’s just very obvious they are worshipping Israel,” Owens continued. “That they base their jokes on people who don’t worship Israel and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu.”

After parting ways with The Daily Wire, a politically conservative media company, last year amid controversy over her comments regarding Jews and Israel, Owens has made those subjects top priorities in her new show.

In late July, for example, Owens said that the Star of David originated from an evil, child-sacrificing, pagan deity and has only become associated with Judaism within the past few hundred years.

In a June episode, Owens argued that “it seems like our country [the US] is being held hostage by Israel.” She lamented, “I’m going to get in so much trouble for that. I don’t care.”

In the same episode, Owens claimed US Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was “wading into some dangerous waters” when, during an interview with host Tucker Carlson, he spoke about how effective the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is at lobbying members of Congress and suggested the group should have to register as a foreign agent that is acting on behalf of Israel.

The reason it was dangerous, Owens said, was because “we know there was once a president that wanted to make AIPAC register, and he ended up shot … so Thomas Massie better be careful.”

Owens was referencing the fact that President John F. Kennedy wanted the American Zionist Council, a lobby group, to register as a foreign agent.

However, there is no evidence the group had anything to do with Kennedy’s assassination.

Weeks later, Owens promoted a series of talking points downplaying the atrocities of the Holocaust and said experiments by Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele performed on Jews during World War II sounded “like bizarre propaganda.”