Owen Benjamin was born to John Kares Smith and Jean Troy-Smith, both professors at Oswego State University. He attended Plattsburgh State College, where he worked at the student-run TV station.
Career
In 2008, Benjamin had a supporting role in The House Bunny. In 2009, he played the lead role in the romantic comedy All's Faire in Love, co-starring with Christina Ricci. He was on Comedy Central Presents in 2010. For three seasons, Benjamin portrayed Owen Walsh on the TBS original comedy Sullivan & Son. Benjamin was also a correspondent on The Jay Leno Show, twice appearing on the program. Benjamin hosted the annual ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards from 2014 to 2016. He had a podcast, Why Didn't They Laugh, on Sideshow Network. He hosted Esquire Network's The Next Great Burger in 2015. He played a correspondent to Tyson Beckford and Rev Run on their show It's Not You It's Men on the OWN network. Benjamin formally produced the late show on Saturday Nights at The Improv in Hollywood, California, and has also performed on MTV's show Punk'd. Benjamin has starred in several web-only video series, including: Sony Pictures Television's C-SPOT, the role of Owen on Gaytown, Chance Stevens on Heckle U for CBS Interactive, and as a host of his own series, Owen Benjamin Presents. Benjamin has used crowdfunded money to rent the venues for his shows. He has cited Adam Sandler and Vince Vaughn as being comedy influences. In October 2019, Patreon suspended Benjamin's account, saying he violated their terms of service regarding hate speech. On January 6, 2020, Benjamin and 100 fans announced they would be suing Patreon for $3.5 million for banning him from the platform. Patreon would later file a counter-suit against 72 of the fans. According to The Daily Dot, "Patreon’s previous terms of service required claims to be submitted to arbitration, like Benjamin’s $3.5 million cause of action. An update to its terms of service that went into effect on Jan. 1 both prohibits users from filing claims based on the platform kicking off someone else and requires any who do so to pay the company’s attorney’s fees and costs, court documents state... Thus, if Patreon wins the suit, Benjamin’s fans could be on the hook for a significant sum..." It was theorized that Patreon specifically made the changes to its terms of service to affect the lawsuit. On July 29, 2020, a judge on the Superior Court of California for the County of San Franciscodenied Patreon's request for a preliminary injunction in the case. Owen Benjamin spoke at the Flat Earth International Conference in Dallas, Texas, on November 14, 2019. Benjamin's YouTube channel was banned on December 3, 2019 for violations of YouTubeTerms of Service. On December 13, he was also suspended from Facebook and Instagram for multiple policy violations. He is also banned or suspended from PayPal and Twitter.
Views
His comedy is intentionally offensive and frequently uses slurs. Benjamin describes his comedy as a criticism of political correctness, liberalism, and the political left. Benjamin has had scheduled shows canceled and has been suspended from Twitter for this behavior, which includes advocating for the return of slavery to enslave Shaun King, as well as from YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Benjamin believes in several conspiracy theories, including that the transgender rights movement is part of a eugenics program funded by Bill Gates to lower the world population. Benjamin also does not believethe moon landing occurred and believes that HIV is a hoax. Benjamin also holds general anti-LGBT views, having used slurs in the past and has accused radio personality Jesse Thorn of being a "child molester" for having a transgender child. On March 24, 2020, the front page of The Daily Dot featured an article describing how Benjamin has been attempting to circumvent his social media bans to spread disinformation regarding COVID-19. Following the publication of the article, several of Benjamin's new accounts were terminated.
Antisemitism
According to Insider Inc, Benjamin supports anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In October 2018, The Daily Beast reported that Benjamin had a history of posting anti-Semitic memes on Instagram. In a YouTube livestream on March 9, 2019, Benjamin said of Adolf Hitler: "Really what he was trying to do was clean Germany, clean it of the parasites, of the fleas. He did not hate Jews. He hated filth and he was trying to clean up." In the same YouTube livestream Benjamin yelled "Jews run our entire media, all of Hollywood, all of pornography", and "Nobody wants any of it and it's all Jews!" Benjamin also denied that gas chambers were used in the Holocaust. Benjamin said of Jews: "if they get power, they will destroy your entire civilization! Has anyone not seen that happening?" Benjamin also has appeared on livestreams with prominent white supremacists such as Peter Brimelow, the founder of anti-immigration website VDARE. According to Bethany Mandel, Benjamin has also posted fabricated verses from the Talmud, and frequently spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories including blaming Jewish people for every societal ill. Mandel also notes that Benjamin is a holocaust denier and anti-vaccination.
Personal life
In March 2008, he and Christina Ricci announced they were engaged, but they ended their engagement two months later. He later married and had two sons. Benjamin is a creationist who does not believe inthe theory of evolution, and does not believe that dinosaurs existed, calling them a "Smithsonian lie".
