They are both members of the same party, but these two political figures are at odds. Kimberly Klacik, a Black woman who ran for office in Maryland, has reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against pundit Candace Owens to the tune of $20 million. Owens is known for her outlandish remarks about political figures and pop culture, and while it makes for entertaining and often viral moments on social media, Klacik didn’t find Owens’s comments to be amusing.
The Hill reports Klacik has accused Owens of making false statements about her and her lifestyle, including alleged comments about Klacik losing out on a book deal and backing out of fundraising opportunities with Owens.
Klacik accuses Owens of also making false claims about her being a madame of a strip club that her husband reportedly owns as well as misappropriating campaign funds. Although Klacik has denied the allegations about her character, she claims Owens has damaged her reputation. In a video reportedly shared to Instagram, Owens stated that Klacik was guilty of “money laundering, tax fraud and campaign fraud.”
“Baseless character assassination has no place in political dialogue‚” Jacob Frenkel, Klacik’s attorney, said. “The defendant chose to use her huge social media platform to attack a respected Baltimore political figure; we are using the proper forum — the power of the courts — to respond. The detail in Ms. Klacik’s lawsuit speaks for itself.”
The lawsuit also reportedly states that Klacik’s team tried on several occasions to get into contact with Owens but their efforts went unanswered. Owens took to Twitter to respond to the news of the $20 million lawsuit by stating, “LOLLL [crying laughing emojis] Kimberly Klacik is a former stripper fraud who has me blocked on EVERY social media account since I exposed her shady FEC filings. She launched an obviously frivolous lawsuit (read it) about me calling her a ‘madame’ to distract/avoid questions about her FEC filings.”
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