WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – U.S. diplomat Candace Owens has been denied a visa to enter New Zealand to speak because she was banned from entering the country, immigration officials said Thursday.
News of the ruling came weeks after neighboring Australia also rejected his visa application, citing his opposition to the Nazis’ experiments 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 acknowledgment on the promoter’s website that he has been denied entry to both countries.
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The speaker, who has more than 3 million followers on YouTube, is accused by critics of promoting conspiracy theories and antisemitism and has ignited firestorms with his comments against Black Lives Matter, feminism, vaccines and immigration.
In March, Owens said he had parted ways with the Daily Wire, with which he had hosted an online talk show since 2021, after falling out with its founders over comments he made about Jews and his opposition to US military support for Israel. He was widely criticized for comments in a YouTube video in July that downplayed the Holocaust.
Owens had promised audiences in Australia and New Zealand a discussion of freedom of speech and his Christian faith when he announced a speaking tour in August.
But Australian authorities barred him from leaving the country in October, with Immigration Minister Tony Burke telling reporters Owens “has the potential to incite discord across communities,” citing his comments about the Holocaust and Muslims.
“The national interest of Australia is better served if Candace Owens is elsewhere,” Burke said. Australian Jewish groups had urged authorities to ban him from the country.
New Zealand officials did not comment on Owens’ political views in a statement on Thursday.
He was refused an entertainer’s work permit in New Zealand on the grounds that visas cannot be legally issued to those who have been deported from another country, said Jock Gilray, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The Australian developer, Rocksman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.