Former Utah Legislator Calls on RNC to Remove Burgess Owens’ Speaking Slot Because of Ties to QAnon

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Former Utah legislator Sheryl Allen has called on the Republican National Committee (RNC) to remove 4th Congressional District candidate Burgess Owens from its list of speakers because Owens is a QAnon conspiracy theorist. Owens had claimed not to subscribe to QAnon despite appearing on “The Common Sense Show,” a program on the Patriots’ Soapbox News Network Archive YouTube channel that is connected to the group, earlier this summer.

Allen says that “even occasional acknowledgment and participation in anything related to QAnon is irresponsible and does not at all represent what mainstream Republican values ought to be,” adding that the RNC “shouldn’t be inviting anyone to speak who has any affiliation with any of these groups or has participated with them.”

Owens’ campaign claims he knows nothing of QAnon and pushed back against criticism from Representative Ben McAdams, the only Democratic member of Utah’s congressional delegation.

“Burgess didn’t even know what Qnon [sic] is and has never spoken favorably about it,” said Jesse Ranney, Owens’ campaign spokesman, in a statement. “When asked about it, he said on [the] record that he does not believe in their platform. Ben McAdams knows this better than anyone, especially after the countless hours his campaign has spent digging through everything Burgess ever said and all the money they’ve wasted paying people to track his every move.”

QAnon subscribers believe in an alleged plot between the “deep state” and President Donald Trump and his supporters. It’s been suggested that the theory practically deifies Trump; the president has retweeted posts from QAnon-affiliated accounts more than once.

Last week, the president generated controversy after he praised subscribers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying they “love our country.” The week before last, the president congratulated Marjorie Taylor Greene for winning the open House seat in Georgia’s predominantly Republican 14th District; Greene has also supported the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying, “Q is a patriot. He is someone that very much loves his country and is on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump,”