Political commentator Candace Owens has slammed Erika Kirk for pulling out of a Turning Point USA event alongside Vice President JD Vance on the last minute.
Taking to X on Tuesday, April 14, just hours after Erika, 37, confirmed she was cancelling her appearance on the University of Georgia because of alleged security threats, Owens, 36, claimed the circumstances were falsely reported.
“Stop. That is exhausting. You pulled out due to bad ticket sales. For a similar reason TPFaith needed to “reschedule” the Pastor’s Summit and various other events quietly,” Owens directed to Erika, referring to Turning Point USA Faith, a division of the organization that’s staging the Fast Forward Pastors’ Summit in Texas on April 21. (It’s unclear when the unique scheduling was set.)
Owens’ post replied on to Erika’s earlier X post that announced her event withdrawal. “I used to be so looking forward to tonight’s event on the @universityofga with our Vice President @JDVance, but in spite of everything our family has been through, I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously,” Erika had written.
Owens continued, “People don’t consider you and don’t line up for you since you struggle to inform the reality about even essentially the most basic facts. Where is the video of Charlie appointing you as CEO weeks before his death?” (Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA and Erika’s late husband, was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025. He was 31 years old.)
A report by Fox 5 Atlanta on Tuesday stated that Vance, 41, said on stage that he had consulted with the Secret Service in light of “threats” that had been directed towards Erika.
Candace Owens Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Owens, who has maintained an ongoing feud with Erika within the wake of Charlie’s death, disputed the claim, writing in her post, “The Secret Service sits above your security team. Were there actually a viable threat, the vice chairman wouldn’t have continued the event.”
Owens concluded her post with one final criticism geared toward Erika and her Turning Point USA team. “Your closest threat is the s*** public relations team you hired that continues to operate under the delusion that they’re smarter than the general public. They aren’t,” Owens wrote.
Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet detailed Erika’s no-show while entering into her place at Tuesday’s event. “I’m on stage here as an alternative of our friend Erika Kirk because unfortunately she has received some very serious threats in her direction, which is terrible,” Kolvet told the group. “It’s a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state of the country.”
Vance also commented on Erika’s absence, telling the room, “Well, initially, I really like Erika. And I do know that she did get some threats. And, you already know, about two hours ago, Andrew, I used to be somewhat anxious that we were going to should cancel the event because Erika was not going to return, and he or she was very anxious about it,” Vance said. “I said, ‘You already know what? Let’s let Erika do what she must do for herself and her family.’ The people telling you that Erica wasn’t grieving her husband are filled with s***, and we should be honest. But in case your instinct is to go after a young mother because she’s grieving in a way that you simply find fallacious, well, why don’t you stay in your lane and mind your personal business?”
Erika Kirk Olivier Touron / AFP
Owens’ feud with Erika was ignited when she began sharing conspiracy theories about Charlie’s murder via social media. The posts led Erika to ask Owens to “stop” during a December 2025 interview with CBS News.
Despite a “very productive conversation” between the duo within the weeks that followed, Owens continued to talk out against Erika initially of 2026, leaking apparent audio of Erika chatting with Turning Point USA team members two weeks after Charlie’s death.
Owens claimed on the time that Erika’s tone was audibly “upbeat” and “off putting.”