From Hollywood actor to crackpot conspiracy theorist, here’s why we should fear Owen Benjamin 

By Charlie Sawyer

Published Oct 13, 2024 at 09:00 AM

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Images courtesy of X and IMDb

In a world full of Donald Trumps, Ron DeSantis’, Nick Fuentes’, Kanye Wests, and Laura Loomers, it often feels as though we must have finally reached the ceiling of craziness. But then, without fail, the US spits out another lunatic. Today, we’re going to be talking about arguably one of the most abhorrent men in America: Owen Benjamin. As a conspiracy theorist and internet personality is known for spreading extremist rhetoric centring on white supremacy, homophobia, Neo-Nazism, antisemitism, and transphobia, Benjamin has about the same amount of brain power as an Ostrich.

Benjamin regularly refers to himself as a “truther” and spends most of his time on X, formerly Twitter, engaging with other conservatives over the “failed state” of the US government.

However, Benjamin’s whole ethos goes far beyond a corrupt state. His conspiracy theories challenge practically everything, from the moon landing and weather modification to the Holocaust and the legitimacy of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Throughout this article, I’m going to attempt to outline not only what Benjamin stands for but also why his particular brand of extremism is so incredibly insidious. Let’s get into it.

Owen Benjamin first got his start in the media industry in several different web-only video series. Indeed, his original career was as an actor, appearing in a smattering of films throughout the mid-2000s such as The House Bunny and All’s Faire in Love—a romcom that he starred in with Christina Ricci, an actor he was later engaged to for a brief period of time.

Very little is known about Benjamin’s private life, specifically regarding his wife and children. Public records show that the comedian married Amy Reinke Smith in 2015. However, it’s not currently known when the pair started their family.

Following his acting career, Benjamin began to establish himself as an up-and-coming conservative comedian and commentator. He rose to popularity during a pretty pivotal time in the right-wing comedic landscape. Wanting to push back against the so-called rising ‘liberal agenda’, we saw a massive increase in anti-woke comedians and political commentators between 2010 and 2020. While this movement largely struggled to gain mainstream momentum, evidence of this growth can be seen in the creation of RightNetwork, a conservative-first TV network that promoted itself as “pro-America, pro-business and pro-military sensibilities.” Naturally and for all of our benefit, it shut down a year later.

Benjamin’s influence, on the other hand, was immediately felt and noticeable across America. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the comedian’s racist and all-round overtly offensive antics began properly ramping up in 2018. One of Benjamin’s first controversies centred around his comments regarding trans youth. Specifically, the comedian used social media to share extremely offensive views on gender-affirming care and hormones for young transgender individuals.

Then, in the same year, he faced an even greater ostracisation from the mainstream comedy circuit after he performed a highly offensive and racist song onstage during a set. During a live performance at the Harrietstown Town Hall, the media personality repeatedly sang the n word as a part of a musical skit, as reported by the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. To say that it offended pretty much the entire audience would be an understatement.

The thing is, Benjamin cleverly marketed his comedy and brash attitude as a refreshing rejection of the social norm. Voices like Benjamin’s, Joe Rogan’s, and Andrew Schulz’s are direct results of a growing sentiment, specifically among white people, that politically correctness has gone mad.

Rather than taking accountability and contributing to  a society wherein equality and equity are the standard, not a privilege, there are a significant segment of people who actively seek out, support, and defend these vultures. Men like Benjamin thrive off of being controversial. And rather than formulate a single creative thought or joke, it’s a lot easier for losers like him to simply attack groups he’s feeling threatened by.

I think it’s also fair to say that Benjamin has a pretty high opinion of himself in respect to his comedic skills… For one, he regularly refers to himself as a “general in the culture wars” and also had this to say about his ‘talents’: “Before I declared that kids shouldn’t be put on trans hormones, people were honest about my standing in the comedy world. No one ever wanted to follow me because I was crushed so hard. Now that I’m not allowed in clubs they just have to pretend I went crazy from a pot brownie because they’re a bunch of liars.”

In 2023, Benjamin released his comedy stand-up special Noble Savage. As predicted, it was a car crash full of highly discriminatory rants that had absolutely zero substance. Being the most banned comedian in America, the special was only able to take place because Benjamin’s fans bought him a field in the Ozarks that was then utilised as the venue.

The special, which I refuse to watch, allegedly included swathes of antisemitic, anti-LGBTQIA+ and racist rhetoric. 

Next, it’s important to address how Owen Benjamin uses X, formerly Twitter, to spread his messages of hate. Once again, these men thrive on social media because they’re able to exist and spread hateful rhetoric in a forum far less restrictive than the mainstream media.

Over the past few years, Benjamin’s YouTube account has been demonetised, his Twitter account banned (a decision that was later reversed under X’s new management) and all his Instagram accounts deplatformed (at least 14, per his claims). However, this hasn’t stopped him from amassing a massive online following. The “comedian” has almost 240,000 followers on X and regularly receives substantial engagement on all of his posts—this probably has something to do with the fact that he posts content literally every two minutes.

Benjamin uses his social media to post about everything and anything. Whether it’s a long-form video rant or a quick immediate conspiracy theory thought bubble, it goes on his X page:

This is what I mean when I say that Benjamin is an incredibly dangerous man. With polarisation reaching new heights, and social media firmly cementing its place as prime location for ideological warfare, individuals like him hold immense power and influence. And while it’s easy sometimes to dismiss these men or categorise them as simply conservative crazies, it’s evident that we should in no way shape or form underestimate them.