WASHINGTON — Conservative commentator Candace Owens gained a national following after getting a Twitter endorsement from Kanye West. Now, she’s using the platform to criticize #MeToo.

Owens tweeted Monday that the “entire premise of #metoo is that women are stupid, weak & inconsequential,” and that the social media movement has “turned sexual assault into a trend.”

The entire premise of #metoo is that women are stupid, weak & inconsequential.

Too stupid to know what men might want if you come to their hotel room late at night.

Too weak to turn around and tell someone not to touch your ass again.

Too inconsequential to realize this. — Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) June 11, 2018

Biggest problem with the #metoo movement is that it turned sexual assault into a trend and simultaneously drowned out the voices of real rape victims— who deserve to be heard.



I will speak about all of this at #YWLS2018 in a few days.



It’s time for real women empowerment. — Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) June 11, 2018

After facing conservative backlash, Owens doubled down and posted that she plans to elaborate on her hatred of #MeToo in a speech Saturday at Turning Point USA’s annual Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Dallas.

Owens is the communications director for Turning Point USA, a grass-roots organization that establishes groups on college campuses promoting small government, free market principles and free speech for conservatives.

Turning Point USA has not issued an official statement on Owens’ comments, and Owens tweeted again saying she still hates #MeToo, but supports victims of rape. Neither Turning Point nor Owens responded to requests for comment.

Love this. Let’s definitely link bc my entire speech at #YWLS2018 is about why I hate the #metoo movement.



For those of you who subscribe to groupthink:



You can hate #BLM and still support black lives.

You can hate #metoo and still support victims of rape. https://t.co/MDj1uCmJNX — Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) June 11, 2018

#MeToo has been divisive within the GOP ranks. Some have criticized the movement as being a vehicle for people to falsely accuse others of sexual misconduct, for circumventing due process, and for creating equivalencies between assault and harassment.

Tensions erupted publicly at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February when National Review analyst Mona Charen was booed during a panel. She said Republicans were "hypocritical" for endorsing candidates accused of sexual misconduct, including President Donald Trump and former Senate contender Roy Moore.

Benji Backer is the founder of the American Conservation Coalition, a millennial-run environmental group that he said won’t be attending the Dallas summit in protest of Owens’ tweets. He called them “abhorrent, “asinine” and “cowardly,” and said he was bothered by how they encompassed the entire movement.

“Certain aspects are fair to criticize, but to put everyone under the category of being stupid or weak is just terrible,” Backer said.

#MeToo, like any movement, has flaws. But it’s inspiring women across the globe to speak out about difficult situations I cannot begin to understand.



To call women “stupid” & “weak” for hiding in the shadows of being raped, assaulted, and abused is absolutely asinine & cowardly. — Benji Backer (@BenjiBacker) June 11, 2018

Other conservatives criticized Owens for misunderstanding the movement and perpetuating negative narratives about women who have experienced sexual misconduct.

Kimberly Corban, a conservative commentator and rape survivor who has appeared on Dallas-based NRATV, tweeted, "Being victimized does NOT make you weak." Corban said she plans to speak about #MeToo during a breakout session she will host at the summit.

Being victimized does NOT make you weak.

Victimizing someone does not make you strong. — Kimberly Corban (@Kimberly_Corban) June 11, 2018

“If I face backlash, that’s OK,” she said. “I have been advocating on this issue for 12 years, and I’m more than willing to die on this hill.”

Corban, who has spoken at the conference twice before, voiced her disappointment in Turning Point’s silence.

“I’m not going to tell anyone what to say, but I would ask that they think before they speak and keep survivors in their minds,” she said.

A former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, Jerry Dunleavy, tweeted that Owens’ take was “exactly wrong” and that holding men accountable for sexual misconduct makes women “smart, strong and consequential.”

Exactly wrong. The entire premise of #MeToo is that for far too long men like Weinstein & Schneiderman & Cosby & countless others have gotten away w/ sexual harassment, abuse, & assault — but because women are *smart, strong, & consequential* they can hold these men accountable. https://t.co/GB0kvXiX4Y — Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) June 11, 2018

Turning Point in Dallas

While controversy has swirled around the #MeToo movement ahead of the conference, it is only one of the issues that will be covered at the invite-only Young Women’s Leadership Summit that runs from June 14-17 in Dallas.

Turning Point USA says it has a presence on more than 1,000 college campuses across the country. It was founded in 2012 and is backed by wealthy GOP donors. The group’s motto is “Big Government Sucks.”

Politico reported that the group runs a campus leadership program that has given training and direct financial support to help conservative students be elected to leadership positions on campus.

Other speakers at the fourth annual summit include:

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk

conservative commentator Ben Shapiro

National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch

Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro

conservative commentator Tomi Lahren

presidential aide Kellyanne Conway

Fox News co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv

Attendees will participate in workshops on political correctness, health care, Israel, how to file a lawsuit against a university, the Second Amendment, campus leadership and social media branding, among other topics.

In addition to her breakout session, Corban will appear on a panel about the Second Amendment. She said the summit has been her favorite conference to attend in previous years.

“I have been invigorated that these young women are learning about things they don’t feel like are in their wheelhouse,” Corban said. “And that includes, now, learning about sexual assault.”