Candace Owens, host of conservative talkshow “Candace,” raised about a quarter-million dollars for former Police Lt. Bill Kelly, who was fired from the Norfolk Police Department in April for making an anonymous donation to Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense fees.
Owens presented a check on her Daily Wire show telling the audience she wants to “publicly celebrate his bravery,” and “humiliate every person involved in supporting the lie that Kelly did anything to dishonor the Norfolk community.”
“I am so grateful for our police officers,” Owens told Kelly. “I can’t even imagine especially in today’s political climate knowing that you’re fighting for justice and you have an entire ecosystem of horrible people that are constantly fighting against you, fighting to defund you, telling you you’re not allowed to exist unless you side with narratives that are actually lies. So this just makes me so happy.”
Owens added that, though the check said it was for $202,000 on Tuesday, it has grown to more than $240,000 since then, and she expects the amount to keep growing.
Kelly, whose wife is battling cancer and is a father of three, was fired after serving 19 years in the Norfolk Police Department for making a $25 anonymous donation to Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense team in April. Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges last week after being accused of fatally shooting two protestors in Kenosha, Wis. last year.
Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer and Police Chief Larry Boone fired Kelly in April, saying that he violated the city’s policies, calling his donation “egregious.” Boone, who marched with Black Lives Matter last May, along with Filer, took away Kelly’s pension, which he was only ten months away from receiving.
“If I had a different opinion and I donated to a fund for the victims and made comments about how Mr. Rittenhouse was a murderer, nobody would have cared or tried to get me fired,” Kelly told the Daily Mail after Rittenhouse was acquitted.
Following Rittenhouse’s acquittal, Kelly is appealing to get his job back, hoping for a hearing in January. If he is unsuccessful, he will lose the pension that he worked 19 years to earn.