Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy recently criticized commentator Candace Owens in a rant, dismissing her as a “lunatic” and accusing her of changing her political views to garner attention. Portnoy claimed that she used to run a “doxing website” in order to punish critics before making a dramatic U-turn on ideology.
During a June 19 episode of his podcast, The Unnamed Show, Dave Portnoy claimed that Candace Owens initially leaned left and was sensitive to online criticism, even creating a platform to expose those who insulted her.
"She's a lunatic. This is somebody who grew up their entire life, like I'm pretty sure, pretty left, like enough where people, if they said something mean about her, she created a doxing website... Then one day she woke up, she's like, 'This isn't getting me the views,'... She went extreme left to extreme right, like bang, like snapped her fingers," he said.
Portnoy said that Owens’ sudden ideological shift was a gimmick to gain attention, calling her comments “insane" and comparing her rhetoric to encouraging criminal behavior.
Candace Owens weighs in on Hollywood feud
Beyond politics, Candace Owens has turned her attention to Hollywood, particularly the high-profile legal battle between It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Owens has dissected the case on her podcast, Candace, repeatedly, describing Lively as a “modern feminist” villain and Baldoni as a victim of cancel culture.
The legal dispute began in December 2024, when Blake Lively accused Justin Baldoni of s*xual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us, which led to a back-and-forth of lawsuits. Baldoni filed a countersuit, accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.
In January 2025, Owens picked up on the drama, insinuating that Reynolds was "insecure" and the "true villain" who manipulated the situation. She also relied on old interviews and anonymous sources to support her assertions; however, much of what she says is still speculative.
Candace Owens took to her Instagram stories, stating:
"This person claims (and I cannot verify) that the production assistants then overheard Ryan and Blake having an argument in her trailer."
She also added:
"Yesterday I received a tip from someone who allegedly worked on the set of It Ends With Us. Lately everyone is bashing Blake Lively, but apparently the true villain in this saga is … Ryan Reynolds... My opinion. Ryan Reynolds is grossly insecure. This, in part, motivated by the fact that he dates and married women who are almost a decade younger than him."
The case has received unexpected attention from conservative media, with figures like Megyn Kelly and Fox News amplifying Baldoni’s side. Kelly's onstage presentation at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2025 focused on the Lively-Baldoni case. She referred to Lively as "an avatar for leftist overreach."
According to social media data analyst Zhouhan Chen, a large portion of the online support for Baldoni seems to be artificially curated, reiterating strategies used in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial.