Candace Owens, a right-wing commentator, has been on a days-long tear against those outraged at the death of George Floyd, claiming that the response to Floyd’s death is a “media-manufactured race war.”
Floyd, a black man, died Monday in handcuffs with his neck pinned under the knee of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who ignored Floyd’s repeated complaints that he couldn’t breathe and bystanders’ pleas to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck. Four officers were fired related to the death, and Chauvin was arrested and charged with murder Friday. Since Tuesday, protesters have demonstrated against the killing in downtown Minneapolis.
Owens tweeted sarcastically Friday that the response to Floyd’s death would solve the coronavirus, calling the reaction a “media-manufactured race war.”
“Forget Hydroxychloroquine or Bill Gates’ vaccines! Turns out the REAL cure to coronavirus is a media-manufactured race war! The only cure to media-induced panic is more media-induced panic! WE ARE SAVED!” Owens tweeted Friday.
Owens faced criticism earlier this week for her baseless suggestion that protests in Minneapolis were being funded by billionaire progressive donor George Soros via his Open Society Foundation and for claiming that black people “jump up like a fucking trained chimpanzee” when they see stories of white police officers killing black people.
Owens is the founder of BLEXIT, a group that encourages black people to leave the Democratic Party.