Political commentator Candace Owens alleged that Turning Point USA falsified his American Halftime Showviewership numbers.
Leading to X on Sunday, February 8, after the right-wing organization founded by Charlie Kirk aired its own half-time show during Super Bowl In 2026, Owens, 36, argued that the 5 million viewers he claimed to attract live on his social media platforms were inaccurate.
Commenting on a previous X publication which captured the number of viewers for one YouTube account at just under 6,000, Owens wrote: “The problem with people who have a lot of money that they haven’t earned is that they usually have no idea how things really work.”
He continued in his second X post: “We have an organization that scammed their views by paying platform advertisers, followed by influencers to pretend they broke records.”
Us Weekly Turning Point USA has been contacted for comment.
Earlier in the evening Blake Neffthat produced The Charlie Kirk Show before the politician’s assassination in September 2025 and helped organize the Turning Point USA halftime show, wrote through X“TPUSA All-American Halftime Show… 5M+ Concurrent on TPUSA YT (YouTube). Almost 1M on Charlie Kirk’s YT. 200k on Magno News YT. 220k on TPUSA Rumble. 15k CK Rumble.”
The post continued: “The entire audience at RAV. And remarkably, the audience continued to grow throughout the competitive program.” (referred to Neff Bad BunnySuper Bowl 2026 Halftime show.)
Owens’ thoughts on Turning Point USA’s halftime performance were accompanied by her thoughts on Bad Bunny’s show, revealing that she did not approve of either. “I’m sorry, but I hate both options,” he declared.
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Of Bad Bunny’s performance, he wrote: “We have a halftime show put on without speaking a word of English,” before concluding: “The left vs. right grift is really boring now. What exactly are we doing here, America?”
Owens, who served as Director of Communications at Turning Point USA from 2017 to 2019, forged a friendship with Charlie before his death at age 31. The couple met in 2017 while embarking on their individual political careers. Despite their camaraderie, Owens did not share the same fondness for Charlie’s wife, Erika Kirkafter Charlie’s death.
Owens spoke publicly about his belief that Tyler Robinsonwho was arrested for Charlie’s death, was wrongfully accused.
Months later, Owens published a leaked conference call recording of Erika, 37, which was allegedly recorded 12 days after Charlie’s death. In the audio, Erika appeared to be praising members of the Turning Point USA team for their recent accomplishments. (said a spokesman for Owens Us Weekly at the time the video was “real and authenticated”).
Owens said of the recording, “We’re not even two weeks after seeing your husband murdered. We’re talking about numbers and metrics that have been affected.”
Erika, who has taken over as CEO of Turning Point USA and has also served as the organization’s president since Charlie’s death, publicly condemned the release of the recording while publicly stating that she wanted Owens to stop peddling conspiracy theories about Charlie’s death.
The couple’s tension led to a December 2025 reunion between Erika and Owens. While details of the meeting were not publicly disclosed, both sides took to their individual X accounts afterward to describe their four-and-a-half-hour discussion as “productive.”