Ben Shapiro Slams Ex-Employee Candace Owens for Profiting Off ‘Brain Rot’: ‘Can’t Even Begin to Speculate On’ Her ‘Psychiatric State’

Zachary LeemanFri, August 7, 2026 at 4:39 PM UTC

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Ben Shapiro slammed his former Daily Wire employee Candace Owens for profiting off “brain rot,” but also gave her credit for being “uniquely capable of coming up” with more and more baseless conspiracy theories.

Shapiro joined Bill O’Reilly on the We’ll Do It LIVE! podcast and at one point jumped into his thoughts about Owens, who was fired from his conservative outlet in 2024. Since then, Owens has made a name for herself through her YouTube channel by spreading numerous conspiracy theories, including that Erika Kirk was somehow involved in the assassination of her late husband, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

Shapiro said of his former employee:

I can’t even begin to speculate on the psychiatric state of Candace Owens. I will say that she has humored legitimately every nutty conspiracy theory it is possible to humor, and she is uniquely capable of coming up with news ones at the drop of a hat. I’m frankly astonished at her creativity and innovativeness when it comes to making new conspiracy theories appear out of thin air.

Shapiro accused Owens of being “cruel” and “vindictive” in her pursuit for “clicks,” and he called out pundits like Megyn Kelly for not properly condemning Owens.

O’Reilly asked if Owens’s conspiracy talk matters to the country and has any influence, and Shapiro said he believes it does, noting Owens has millions of followers. Owens has more than six million subscribers on YouTube and nearly eight million followers on X.

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“She has — millions of people pay attention to her, unfortunately, and I do think that brain rot, unfortunately, is infectious,” Shapiro said.

“Brain rot?” O’Reilly asked.

“Yes, like the rotting of human brains with stupid ideas. Bad ideas are infectious and they rot the brain,” Shapiro said in explanation.

Watch above via We’ll Do It LIVE!

The post Ben Shapiro Slams Ex-Employee Candace Owens for Profiting Off ‘Brain Rot’: ‘Can’t Even Begin to Speculate On’ Her ‘Psychiatric State’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”