Conservative commentator Candace Owens defended rapper and fashion designer Kanye West from accusations of antisemitism, following a series of social media comments referencing Jews.

Last week, fellow rapper Sean Combs, better known by his stage name “P. Diddy”, criticized West’s decision to wear a “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris fashion week.

West responded by texting Combs, and later uploaded screenshots of the text conversation to Instagram, writing in part: "Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me."

After West’s account was subsequently suspended, he took to Twitter, threatening to go "death con 3 on the Jews,” while denying his comments could be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jew."

"You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."

The comments drew public condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and a number of celebrities, including actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Sarah Silverman, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and singer Malynda Hale.

Billionaire Elon Musk later said he "talked to ye [Kanye] today & expressed my concerns about his recent tweet, which I think he took to heart."

On a recent podcast episode, however, Owens, defended West, denying the rapper is antisemitic and accusing the media of conducting a targeting West over his political views.

West, who cited media efforts to paint her as antisemitic over her comments in 2018 on Adolf Hitler, said West’s recent social media posts were bizarre, but not antisemitic.

“If you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was antisemitic. You did not think that he wrote this tweet because he hates or wants to genocide [sic] the Jewish people].”

"If you were an honest person, when you read this tweet, you had no idea what the hell he was talking about. I had no idea, when I read this tweet, what the hell he was talking about. This tweet inspired questions, not answers."

“What is ‘death con 3’? Did he mean ‘DEFCON 3,’ which would be a military defense position?”

“If you’re a liar, you’ll say, ‘I was scared Candace, I actually thought that Kanye West was going to launch a military strike on Israel’.”

“That was the reaction that was met with this tweet.”

Owens also pushed back on accusations that West’s recent comments regarding Jared Kushner and his brother Josh, made on Fox News during an interview with Tucker Carlson, were antisemitic. During the interview, West accused the elder Kushner brother of pushing the Abraham Accords for his own financial benefit, and expressed frustration over the Kushners’ shares in his ex-wife’s fashion company SKIMS.

“Not once did he mention that Jared and Josh are Jewish. So how on earth is this being included as something that was antisemitic? Are you no longer allowed to discuss Jared Kushner, and what, perhaps was his reasons and motives for doing a deal in the Middle East are?”

“In fact, The New York Times covered after he left the White House he started Affinity Partners,” Owens continued, referencing the Florida-based equity firm Kushner established in 2021.

“They received two billion dollars in investments, via a fund that was led by the Saudi Crown Prince.”