“If the gun doesn’t fit, you must acquit!”
That’s how the conspiracy theorist and podcast superstar Candace Owens opened up the March 31 episode of her show, which already has more than 1.3 million views, where she called for the acquittal of the man charged with killing Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson. She ironically invoked a slogan from the OJ Simpson trial, who was legally acquitted but is ultimately now widely believed to have killed his wife and her lover.
Owens claims to be one of Kirk’s only “true friends” — and this is how she’s showing it. It all rests on a viral false narrative that emerged from a tabloid headline in the Daily Mail this week: “Bullet used to kill Charlie Kirk did NOT match rifle allegedly used by suspect Tyler Robinson.”
This headline quickly blew up on X and spread like wildfire, racking up more than 25 million views on the social media platform. Owens, of course, immediately seized on the clickbait, sharing it and adding, “Where are all my neocons who have been ‘overwhelmed’ by the non existent evidence against Tyler Robinson?”
But when you look into the details, this “bombshell” revelation actually changes very little — and certainly doesn’t suggest that Robinson ought to be acquitted.
Kirk truthers have seized on the tabloid reporting about the ballistics analysis in the case conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and misportrayed its findings. In their telling — and implied by misleading headlines such as the Daily Mail’s — the analysis definitively concluded that the bullet that killed Kirk did not come from Robinson’s rifle. That’s not actually what happened.
In reality, the analysis was inconclusive. It wasn’t able to match the bullet to Robinson’s rifle, but it also doesn’t rule out that it came from that gun. They simply weren’t able to reach a conclusion because the bullet was so heavily fragmented. It’s essentially a null finding that neither proves Robinson’s guilt nor exonerates him.
So, we’re simply left with all the other evidence against Robinson, which Owens claims is “non existent.”
In reality, the “non existent” evidence against Robinson includes, but is not limited to:
- Surveillance footage showing him arriving at the scene of the crime
- The rifle found at the scene, which traces back to his family and has his DNA on it
- Text messages where he explains his motivation for killing Kirk and implicates his own guilt in the crime
- A spent shell casing at the scene of the crime that was conclusively matched to his rifle
- Testimony from his parents and romantic partner, revealing his motive and admissions of guilt
Yet Owens and her ilk explain away all this actual evidence as fake and planted, while misconstruing minor evidentiary findings like the ATF analysis as bombshell exonerations that they are not. Meanwhile, Owens accuses those who believe Robinson is guilty and reject her conspiracies of selling out… all while interrupting her podcast episode on the latest revelations for five sponsorship breaks, which Fortune estimates sell for $50,000 each.
RESTORING AMERICA: LIBERATION DAY’S BROKEN PROMISES
It’s an insane and depressing media saga that not only threatens to undermine the pursuit of much-needed justice and accountability for a horrific killing but also is tearing the right-wing media ecosystem apart. Owens is dishonestly enriching herself, tormenting a widow, and causing a civil war among conservatives that distracts from their ability to govern effectively and push back on the Left.
Other than that, she’s doing amazing.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.
