Washington-conservative U.S. political commentator Candace Owens has been denied a visa to travel to New Zealand for a speaking engagement because she was previously barred from entering another country, New Zealand immigration officials said Thursday.
News of the ruling came just weeks after neighboring Australia denied her visa application because of comments she had made denying that Nazis conducted medical experiments on Jews in concentration camps during World War II, the Associated Press reported.
Candice Owens was denied a visa to Australia and New Zealand. (Bald Head via AP)
Mr. Owens had planned a series of events in Australian cities and Auckland, New Zealand, in February and March. Tickets are still on sale, but the organizers’ website makes no mention of the fact that she has been denied entry to either country.
On social media, Ms. Owens has more than three million YouTube followers, but her critics have accused her of promoting conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism and courting controversy with statements against Black Lives Matter, feminism, vaccination and immigration.
In March, Owens said she had parted ways with the Daily Wire, with which she had worked since 2021, following a disagreement with its founder over her comments directed at Jews and her opposition to US military aid to Israel. In July, she was widely criticized for downplaying the Holocaust in a YouTube video.
When Mr. Owens announced the speaking tour in August, he promised to bring a discussion about free speech and Christian faith to Australian and New Zealand audiences.
But the Australian government barred her in October. Immigration Minister Tony Burke told media that Owens was “capable of fomdering discord on almost every front,” citing her comments about the Holocaust and Muslims.
“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is elsewhere,” Mr. Burke said. Jewish groups in Australia had urged the government to bar her.
The New Zealand statement on Thursday didn’t address Mr. Owens’s political views.
Immigration New Zealand spokesman Jock Gilray said Owens had been denied a work visa for performances in New Zealand because of laws that prevent people who have previously been banned from entering other countries from getting a visa.
Owens and his Australian host Rocksman have yet to respond to a request for comment.