SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly joked Tuesday that she likes to live on her “own little island,” and she pointed out that the conservative movement “likes to eat its own.”
Kelly made the remarks Tuesday in an interview with The Daily Wire‘s Ben Shapiro.
Kelly got into a fiery exchange over Shapiro’s commitment to freedom of speech, and she had some questions about the conservative organization’s motives for parting ways with Candace Owens, an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas War.
“It has now spawned into a debate about whether The Daily Wire is pro-free speech,” Kelly told Shapiro. “The accusation is you are until it comes to Israel. How do you respond?”
Shapiro pointed to the variety of opinions at The Daily Wire, including a variety of opinions on U.S. involvement overseas.
“What I will say is we have a variety of positions on Israel right now inside the Daily Wire. Matt Walsh is obviously one of the number one hosts at the Daily Wire, and he and I wildly disagree on what America’s Israel policy should be. Matt is much more of an isolationist,” Shapiro said.
“He basically believes the United States has no real interest in the Middle East and thus should not be providing material supporting to anyone, including the state of Israel. Matt obviously is well within the sort of group of hosts that we have here at the Daily Wire. So clearly whatever is going on is not about Israel specifically. That’s really all I have to say about it.”
Kelly described parting ways with Owens as the correct decision.
“It wasn’t a good match, and I, for one, applaud the separation for a number of reasons,” Kelly said. “I think Candace will do fine on her own.”
Shapiro maintained his freedom to stop publishing Owens, but he discouraged Twitter or YouTube from censoring her.
“As far as the free speech of it, as I’ve said before, the Daily Wire is a publisher, not a platform,” Shapiro said. “I would never call for anyone to be ousted from an actual platform, X, YouTube. Even people who I think are absolutely horrific human beings, I’ve never called for any of them. In fact, I’ve called for their accounts to be restored if they’ve been banned.”
There’s some disagreement over whether YouTube is a platform or a publisher, but The Daily Wire is a dictionary-definition publisher.
Owens has faced accusations of antisemitism. Last month, she blasted “a small ring of specific people who are using the fact that they are Jewish to shield themselves from any criticism.”
Meanwhile, Shapiro has previously feuded with Owens on Twitter.
Take a look —
Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit. https://t.co/qachKhAuHo
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 15, 2023
Shapiro’s organization, The Daily Wire, has previously portrayed Kelly positively.
In fact, Kelly just received a glowing write-up for her comments about the National Organization for Women.
On Twitter, NOW accused swimmer Riley Gaines of espousing “white supremacist patriarchy.” They objected to Gaines’ lawsuit aiming to keep female athletes from ever needing to compete against transgender people in college sports.
“Repeat after us: Weaponizing womanhood [sic] against other women is white supremacist patriarchy at work,” NOW tweeted to its 100,000 followers. “Making people believe there isn’t enough space for trans women in sports is white supremacist patriarchy at work.”
Kelly pointed out the sheer unpopularity of NOW’s beliefs.
“Hey @NationalNOW – you don’t stand for us, understand us, care about us or speak for us,” Kelly said. “Go F yourselves.”
After that, The Daily Wire ran a headline called, “Megyn Kelly Slams NOW After Women’s Organization Throws Support Behind ‘Trans Women In Sports’”
Kelly hosted Shapiro onto her podcast the very next day.
Take a look —
Hey @NationalNOW – you don’t stand for us, understand us, care about us or speak for us. Go F yourselves. https://t.co/svQxqFmiEz
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) April 1, 2024
The Horn editorial team