Conservative US influencer Candace Owens is barred from New Zealand weeks after a ban from Australia

Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S. conservative political commentor Candace Owens was refused a visa to enter New Zealand for a speaking engagement because she had been banned from another country, immigration officials said Thursday.

News of the ruling came weeks after neighboring Australia also rejected her visa request, citing remarks in which she denied Nazi medical experimentation on Jews in concentration camps during World War II.

Owens is scheduled to speak at a series of events in several Australian cities and in Auckland, New Zealand, in February and March next year. Tickets remain on sale and there is no acknowledgement on the promoter’s website that she has been refused entry to both countries.

The commentator, who has more than 3 million followers on YouTube, is accused by her detractors of promoting conspiracy theories and antisemitism and has ignited firestorms with her remarks opposing Black Lives Matter, feminism, vaccines and immigration.

In March, Owens said she had parted ways with the Daily Wire, on which she had hosted an online talk show since 2021, after clashes with its founders over her remarks about Jews and her opposition to U.S. military support for Israel. She was widely criticized for comments in a YouTube video in July that minimized the Holocaust.

Owens had promised Australian and New Zealand audiences a discussion of free speech and her Christian faith when she announced the speaking tour in August.

But Australian officials banned her from the country in October, with Immigration Minister Tony Burke telling reporters Owens “has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction,” citing her remarks about the Holocaust and about Muslims.

“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else,” Burke said. Australian Jewish groups had urged officials to bar her from the country.

New Zealand officials did not refer to Owens’ political views in a statement on Thursday.

She was refused an entertainer’s work permit for New Zealand on the ground that visas legally cannot be granted to those who have been excluded from another country, said Jock Gilray, a spokesperson for the immigration agency.

Owens and the Australia-based promoter, Rocksman, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.