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Seth Dillon: Babylon Bee CEO Denies Making ‘Threats’ to Charlie Kirk, …

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Less than 36 hours after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a speaking engagement in Utah, his alleged assassin was arrested.

And while the case against Tyler Robinson seems fairly open-and-shut, many remain convinced that there’s more to the story.

Some believe Robinson had accomplices, while others are convinced he was a pawn in a vast conspiracy.

The discourse surrounding Kirk’s death has now been further complicated by shocking claims from conservative pundit Candace Owens.

Candace Owens speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at The Rosen Shingle Creek on February 25, 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
Candace Owens speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at The Rosen Shingle Creek on February 25, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Owens has made a career out of courting controversy, and now, she’s positioned herself at the center of the year’s biggest news story.

To be fair, Owens and Kirk were close friends, so her motives in all of this might be pure.

But that doesn’t make her recent remarks any less incendiary.

Candace Owen says Charlie Kirk faced ‘threats,’ bribes over Israel

On Monday, Owens posted an hour-long episode of her podcast that has already been viewed nearly six million times.

In it, she alleges that Kirk faced pressure from powerful individuals within the conservative sphere, particularly billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Seth Dillon, CEO of the satirical news site The Babylon Bee.

“Last week was not a dream. Charlie Kirk, my friend, is dead. He was publicly executed. And as we’re all searching for answers, a lot of the ones that are being supplied to us are not making sense,” Owens said at the start of the episode.

From there, Owens alleged that during a “tense” lunch meeting in the Hamptons over the summer, Dillon and Ackman tried to coerce Kirk into showing his support for Israel by visiting the county.

Owens says that Kirk had been experiencing a change of heart regarding his support for Israel’s war against Palestine, and that he had previously been contacted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Owens, “threats were made” as part of a high-pressure “intervention” to get Kirk to double down on his pro-Israel stance.

She also alleges that some of the interested parties resorted to bribery.

Seth Dillon (Left) attends the DailyWire+ Red Carpet Premiere of "Lady Ballers" on November 29, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Seth Dillon (Left) attends the DailyWire+ Red Carpet Premiere of “Lady Ballers” on November 29, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images for Bentkey Ventures)

“I know that Charlie was offered a significant amount of money during that time — a ton of money,” Owens said.

Who is Seth Dillon?

In 2018, Dillon purchased The Babylon Bee — a conservative, Christian alternative to news satire sites like The Onion — from its founder, Adam Ford.

Seth and brother Dan Dillon have been primarily in charge of the site and its content ever since.

He and Ackman have both responded on X to the claims Owens made about their meeting with Kirk.

Dillon stated that he was invited to a Hamptons retreat by Kirk, but “if there were any private meetings, I wasn’t in them.”

Ackman accused Owens of “slander,” writing, “For the record, at no time have I ever threatened Charlie Kirk, Turning Point or anyone associated with him. I have never blackmailed anyone, let alone Charlie Kirk.”

We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.

Seth Dillon: Babylon Bee CEO Denies Making ‘Threats’ to Charlie Kirk, … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.

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Full Interview with FCC Chair Brendan Carr | POLITICO’s 2025 AI & Tech Summit

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Cruz says First Amendment ‘absolutely protects hate speech’ in wake of Charlie Kirk killing

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defended constitutional protections for hate speech in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of conservative organizer Charlie Kirk.

In an interview with POLITICO’s Rachael Bade, Cruz said people who engage in hate speech are not “immune from the consequences of your speech,” expressing support for companies that have taken disciplinary action against employees for speaking negatively of Kirk.

“The First Amendment absolutely protects speech,” Cruz said Tuesday at POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit in Washington. “It absolutely protects hate speech. It protects vile speech. It protects horrible speech. What does that mean? It means you cannot be prosecuted for speech, even if it is evil and bigoted and wrong.”

At the same time, Cruz endorsed “naming and shaming” as “part of a functioning and vibrant democracy,” citing English philosopher John Stuart Mill’s famous axiom that free and plentiful expression is the best antidote to undesirable speech.

“We have seen, as you noted, across the country, people on the left — not everybody, but far too many people — celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder,” Cruz said. “We’ve seen teachers in high schools and elementary schools posting online, celebrating. We’ve seen university professors posting. In my view, they should absolutely face the consequences for celebrating murder.”

The senator lauded Kirk, who he described as a friend, for being willing to engage in civil debate.

Numerous individuals have been targeted online for making disparaging posts about Kirk, leading to firings in higher education, media and other industries. The Pentagon has also vowed to discipline service members who “celebrate or mock” Kirk’s killing.

Cruz also defended Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who said law enforcement would “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” Cruz said those comments had been “misconstrued.”

In a Tuesday morning statement posted to social media, Bondi clarified that “hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.”

Cruz said while he was glad to see social media companies attempt to block the video of Kirk’s killing but added that the companies should “allow free speech,” echoing earlier comments by Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr who told POLITICO’s Alex Burns that the government should not crack down on social media posts about Kirk.

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Full Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar | POLITICO AI & Tech Summit

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Democratic megafirm SKDK drops Israel as client

Top Democratic public affairs firm SKDK has cut short its contract with the Israeli government, for which it promoted Israel’s perspective on the conflict in Gaza.

The firm’s work initially included media efforts to raise the profile of the tragedy of the Bibas family, three members of which were killed while in captivity in Gaza. SKDK then changed its focus to pitching guests for news shows to hear Israel’s side of the war in Gaza. The $600,000 contract with the Israeli government — first reported by POLITICO in March — was supposed to run from April of this year through March.

SKDK has worked for several pro-Israel efforts over the years, but this was the first time it represented the Israeli government itself. It collaborated with Havas, a European advertising and PR firm, on behalf of Lapam, the Israeli government advertising agency, with the ultimate client being the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“SKDK stopped this work on Aug. 31 and has begun the process of de-registering,” a spokesperson for SKDK said in a statement. The spokesperson declined to comment on why it was ending its work, saying only that the work “had run its course.”

SKDK’s announcement came one day after the investigative news outlet Sludge reported that one aspect of its work was setting up a bot program “to amplify pro-Israel narratives on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other platforms.” The story linked to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing that showed that Stagwell, the parent company of SKDK, agreed to perform such work.

But SKDK and Stagwell both said they did not work on a bot initiative. “Our work focused solely on media relations and nothing else,” the SKDK spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment. Havas and Lapam also didn’t respond.

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Health

The Common Vitamin That Could Help You Fight Against Fatty Liver Disease

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (fatty liver disease) currently has no known cure, but research suggests a vitamin may help prevent it.

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