Candace Owens' Charlie Kirk Assassination Conspiracies Hit Nebraska
by Matt Johnson
(Picture credit Candace Owens)
OMAHA — Candace Owens, once considered a mainstream conservative influencer with a show on The Daily Wire, has since broken away and gone full-bore into the realm of conspiracy theory, particularly since the public assassination of Charlie Kirk last year.
On a recent program, she offered a $10,000 bounty to anyone who could tell her who Ben Shapiro, the founder of The Daily Wire, was meeting with at the time of Kirk’s assassination. On her Thursday program last week, she announced that she had received such a tip, and the person was Gary Javitch, a longtime Omaha resident and Nebraska volunteer for AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“Ben was allegedly with Gary Javitch and an as of yet unidentified woman when Charlie Kirk was shot,” Owens said. “Gary Javitch is not a person that you have likely ever heard of unless you are Jewish and involved in the community, but he is certainly very well-known, actually very powerful. And we weighed this identification as likely, determined it was probably likely, given the reason that Ben was in Los Angeles on that September day.”
Owens further described Javitch as a longtime figure in Omaha’s Jewish community with roles involving B’nai B’rith and Chabad-Lubavitch of Nebraska.
Owens has previously called Shapiro, her former boss, “satanic” and insinuated that he possibly had pre-knowledge or involvement in Kirk’s assassination.
Shapiro, on his program the next day, emphatically denied the claims.
“This loon bag is going around speculating that randos are people that I had breakfast with on the day that Charlie was shot,” he said. “So, you’re wrong. It was not Gary Javitch. Guess again. Don’t know Gary Javitch from Adam. I’ve never heard of Gary Javitch. If I met him, in passing, because again, I can’t testify as to like every single human I’ve ever met—possible? Don’t know him. Never breakfasted with him.”
While a registered Democrat, Javitch has made multiple appearances in support of Republicans, including a campaign event last week with Brinker Harding and Speaker Mike Johnson. Javitch is also a frequent guest and sponsor of the local Pachyderm Luncheon. Javitch spoke at the Pachyderm Luncheon on Monday to address these claims directly.
“I somehow got involved as a participant in the conspiracy to murder Charlie Kirk—I was one of the key people in that, according to Candace Owens, who said this to millions of people,” Javitch said. “There are 330 million people in America. How did I get plucked out of cyberspace to get involved in that?”
Javitch went on to state that he has never met Ben Shapiro and does not know where Owens got “any of the very inaccurate information.”
Javitch also expressed some concern about his safety after these allegations were made. He contacted Sharon Brodkey of the Jewish Community Relations Council with his concerns, who forwarded them to the Anti-Defamation League, which is looking into the matter further.
Javitch also spoke about the matter to Gene Kowel, head of the Omaha FBI office. Javitch said Kowel told him he shouldn’t worry too much “because we’re in Omaha, Nebraska,” and that despite some online comments from Owens’ followers, he shouldn’t be worried.
“And so I won’t be,” Javitch said.
As to where Javitch was on the day Charlie Kirk was murdered, he spoke to The Plains Sentinel about it.
“I remember, because it was my son’s birthday, I was with him in San Francisco—Shapiro was in Los Angeles,” Javitch said.
After a brief investigation last year, Tyler Robinson was charged with the murder of Charlie Kirk, and his trial is currently underway. Still, speculation over such a public and high-profile murder has led to many conspiracy theories about the circumstances, and they continue to touch as close to home as Omaha, Nebraska.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.