You could call it the revenge of the ‘far-Right’ streamers. For these online commentators are battling for airtime on our smaller screens – and are pulling in record views.
Right-wing personalities have seen some of their biggest audiences in the wake of Charlie Kirk assassination last week.
Just 24 hours before Jimmy Kimmel – who averaged about 1.7 million nightly TV viewers over the past year – was abruptly dumped by ABC for his remarks about the slain conservative influencer, former Turning Point staffer Candace Owens racked up almost eight million views on YouTube in one day.
And Megyn Kelly pulled in almost four million views on a three-hour livestream on her channel on the video site on September 10.
Ben Shapiro amassed 3.8 million views on his show, while more obscure conservative pundit Tim Pool, 39, racked up more than a million views on his YouTube channel.
A former NBC News executive told the Daily Mail: ‘These people are just as big if not bigger online as Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer were in their prime, but the mainstream media ignores them as if they’re irrelevant.
‘But they’re growing in clout and power and they’re not going away. People live online these days; nobody is in front of the TV unless you’re over 70.
‘I mean Emmanuel Macron has been so rattled by Candace’s attacks on his wife that he’s taken the unprecedented decision to sue her,’ the source said, referring to the French president’s feud with Owens.
In fact, they’ve gotten so big that X is on fire with savage infighting between some of the biggest names among Right-wing influencers – which include Owens, Shapiro, Pool, Tucker Carlson, Ian Carroll, Steven Crowder among many others – and is growing at a fever pitch.
The number of eyeballs on these online stars has been increasing exponentially for months as more network talk-show stars like Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, and TV and print reporters – such as the Washington Post’s Karen Attiah, CNN‘s Jim Acosta, MSNBC’s Matthew Dowd and ABC News’ Terry Moran – have been fired.
Online Right-wing commentators and influencers are now eclipsing once-dominant network hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel
Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and Tucker Carlson, all whom have transitioned from network news to independent online platforms, have amassed huge audiences since
Owens, 36, who broadcasts out of a studio at her Nashville home with a small team of producers, has almost singlehandedly challenged both France’s president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on her talk show in recent months.
Her unapologetic style and incendiary commentary has made her one of many powerhouse conservative online commentators dismissed by many as ‘far right’ or ‘fringe conspiracy theorists’ – though her influence is arguably bigger at times than the networks’ biggest stars.
David Muir, of ABC News, for example, who anchors the top-rated network evening news program, didn’t even crack a million viewers on YouTube on September 16.
His broadcast averages up to seven million viewers on a weeknight but less than a million in the coveted demographic of people between 25 and 54.
The NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News average between 3.7 million and 5.5 million with YouTube views often less than 200,000.
Owens, the African-American granddaughter of a North Carolina sharecropper who married the son of a billionaire English lord in 2019 and had four children with him in rapid succession, has jumped into the lead of the online pack with her viral videos in the wake of the Kirk murder.
She got her start working with Kirk when Turning Point USA was in its infancy and helped build what became a conservative media empire.
But her success and outspokenness has come at a price as Owens is the biggest target in the rising wars among the right wing pundits.
Owens joined Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA in 2017 before joining Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire network until her departure in 2024
Owens’s relationship with Shapiro fell apart after she became increasingly critical of Israel, which Shapiro, who is Jewish, supports
Owens was already in the crosshairs of Daily Wire kingpin Shapiro, who still gets some of the most views online for his show, after she left his organization – in part because she changed her views on Israel, a cause that Shapiro champions.
She’s also been embroiled in another big spat with 26-year-old Nick Fuentes, who with his so-called ‘groypers,’ is a massive rising star on the far-Right, somewhat of a young Alex Jones.
Fuentes however has turned to Rumble as his main platform since he was banned from many social media sites for what have been called his white supremacist, misogynistic, and racist opinions.
Fuentes appeared on Owens’s show in July in what was a seemingly cordial exchange, but things went rapidly downhill after that when Fuentes accused Owens of doing a ‘hit job’ on him and accusing Owens, Carlson, and X owner Elon Musk of a ‘coordinated attack’ on him.
He followed that up with an extraordinarily racist and misogynistic rant against Owens after being on her show.
‘You are a diversity hire, you are a DEI hire,’ Fuentes said on his show, even though Owens works for herself.
‘You pander, you know, and she thinks she’s some kind of boss b***h. Yeah, you’re a b***h, but like you, you didn’t get that way because you’re a super smart boss.
‘You got that way because you’re you’re super bitchy black token, like it is what it is… I’m done with all the Uncle Tom token blacks.
Controversial far-right live streamer Nick Fuentes, 26, had feuded with Charlie Kirk, but described his death a ‘tragedy’ following his assassination on September 10
Kirk’s assassination saw right-wing firebrands pull in record views
‘You’re not that smart, you’re you’re not even that conservative. You build your career on a grift that is now dead. You were hired when diversity quotas were a thing.
‘You were hired when white guilt is a thing. I don’t feel white guilt. I never have. Dei is over. So now you’re done, you need to be fired.’
Owens for her part has gone nuclear on her show, saying she doesn’t believe the official account of who shot Charlie Kirk — and accusing Netanyahu of ‘lying’ to the American public about his relationship with Kirk.
Owens has insinuated that Kirk’s longtime loyalty to Israel had been shifting because of the prolonged war in Gaza.
She said that she plans to get to the bottom of Kirk’s murder even if it’s ‘over my dead body, which could be arranged.’
Owens’s feuding has extended even to billionaire Bill Ackman, a close friend of Netanyahu over a TPUSA event in the Hamptons in August that Owens believes was in fact an ‘intervention’ to discourage Kirk from any perceived disloyalty to Israel.
Ackman has posted two lengthy rebuttals to Owens’ accusations on X but has so far declined her offer to appear on his show.
Owens has been investigating what she says may have been a $150,000 bribe offered to Kirk from Netanyahu to keep Tucker Carlson away from TPUSA events.
Owens, who now has her own show on YouTube, has also become one of many powerhouse conservative commentators online dismissed by many as ‘far-Right’ or ‘fringe conspiracy theorists’ due to her unapologetic style and controversial takes
Owens has famously been embroiled in a feud – and more recently a lawsuit – with French President Emmanuel Macron after publicly accusing French First Lady Brigitte Macron of being a man
She has also gone viral for her attacks on French First Lady Brigitte Macron, accusing her of being a man. The Macrons fired back by filing a defamation lawsuit against her in July.
She feuded briefly with another online superstar, Megyn Kelly, who now is producing other online shows under her company’s umbrella, but the two made up and have traded kind words online since the killing of Kirk.
Not to be outdone, the godfather of online blowhards, Alex Jones of Sandy Hook fame, had a massive meltdown on his show earlier this month after his longtime deputy on Infowars, Owen Shroyer, walked off the show after Jones barged on set to meddle in his broadcast.
‘When I go on the air I’m letting you have it, Shroyer,’ Jones roared when barging in on Harrison Smith’s show on Infowars, while Smith and Jones’ son Rex, cowered on set.
‘You stabbed your brother and this operation in the back. You’re a f*king liar!’
Jones also called Shroyer, who did his own four-hour show from his home about the incident a ‘demon’ and accused him of lying that Jones had pressured him to be more positive about Trump and not talk so much about Israel.
If this sounds a bit like WWE stars in the ring, it may be meant to.
‘When it comes to media controversy, what makes the Right so much more interesting than the Left right now is the diversity of opinion and the willingness to disagree, to let arguments get heated, with actual consequences,’ Ken Tucker, a longtime NPR pop music critic and former veteran TV critic for Entertainment Weekly, told the Daily Mail.
Far-right radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones had a massive meltdown on his show earlier this month after his longtime deputy on Infowars, Owen Shroyer, walked off the show
‘These dust-ups have real stakes – there are literally millions of consumers of their podcasts who may be persuaded toward one of them or the other.
‘Now look at legacy media: Can you imagine if Chris Cuomo got into a feud with David Muir over coverage of Israel? Who would care?
‘If the New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones bad-mouthed Thomas Friedman on Israel coverage, do you think anyone would notice? Political and pop culture have shifted entirely away from TV and print to online battlegrounds.’
Kimmel ranted about the Kirk shooting on his Monday night episode, suggesting the assassin ‘was MAGA’ and the Republicans were trying to ‘score political points’.
On Wednesday FCC Chair Brendan Carr urged broadcasters to stop airing his show, hinting he would open an investigation into the vicious comments.
‘Fox News has severed bow ties with Tucker Carlson after all these years, which means he was fired,’ Kimmel said at the time while grinning gleefully.
‘He’s already on a plane to Moscow to meet with his manager, but what a shock.
The rise of streamers has seen network stars such as Stephen Colbert dwindle this year
The media shift has even impacted cable news pundits such as CNN’s Jim Acosta
‘I mean, what an absolutely delightful shock. Tucker can now spend more time at home tanning his testicles and touching himself to that sexy Green M& M. Sadly, he’s probably not done poisoning old people’s brains.
‘The question now is, where will he do it next? Will he go to OAN? Will he go to Newsmax? Will he crawl back up Satan’s fiery B-hole from whence he came?
‘We don’t know. (He was) one one of the most despicable mothertuckers ever to appear on American television.’
A veteran celebrity publicist who has worked for some of the biggest network news shows says he hate-watches the online pundits — and wishes he didn’t but can’t turn away.
‘If you put them in a room together their venom toward their subjects can turn just as bad toward their colleagues,’ the insider told the Daily Mail.
‘They’re being rewarded for really aggressive behavior. This is who they are, the nastier, the more provocative and edgy they are the better they do. Success and venom is a winning combination.
‘Do I consider them legitimate? Yes I do. They’re no more fringe than World News Tonight.
‘Legitimacy is about having a voice. Is it a voice a lot of us would consider truthful?
‘No. I watch them all the time I hate to say but sometimes I feel I need a shower after I watch.’
‘They’ve changed the world,’ he continued. ‘The days of doing a network show like ‘Good Morning America’ or the ‘Today’ show is over.
‘If you want to promote a project, you do on a podcast. The PR people don’t talk about it but they all know.
‘If you go to a red carpet, the influencers will get better spots than Entertainment Tonight.’
