The Greatest Lie Ever Sold

Candace Owens is revered by Conservatives and despised by Liberals, so to say she might be the most polarizing media figure today would be the understatement of the year. For anyone living under a rock for the past ten years, Owens is a Black conservative mouthpiece for all things Far-Right. But what makes her unique in this bloated political arena is the fact that she seems to target Black folks specifically. At least, that’s where her reputation currently stands among most Black people.

Owens has never shied away from controversial takes. She relentlessly went after the Obamas, Beyonce, Collin Kaepernick, as well a slew of other Black politicians and celebrities. She’s most known for her ongoing social media war with rap star Cardi B. But more than any of those just mentioned, Owens has always sided with the police in every killing of an unarmed Black victim regardless of what the evidence has shown. She is known in most Black communities as a racial sell-out, an Uncle Tom, and a lot worse words than those.

But it wasn’t till 2020, during the Covid lockdown, that she made the mainstream news for her Instagram story where she targeted George Floyd. He was the Black man who was executed in public by Officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 26 seconds, cutting off oxygen till Floyd’s body lay lifeless. Owens, angry about the backlash she received, made a documentary to push her point further: The Greatest Lie Ever Sold. This “exposé” isn’t just about Floyd, though. It’s about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as a whole.

“…was supposed to expose ‘all the lies and secrets’ of the BLM movement.”

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no fan of Candace Owens, but as a critic, I will always base a film on its merit, not the people involved. This documentary, at least in the way it’s promoted, was supposed to expose “all the lies and secrets” of the BLM movement. But that’s not exactly what ended up in the final cut. Coming in at around 1 hour and 20 minutes, The Greatest Lie Ever Sold spends 40 of those minutes with Candace Owens attacking George Floyd’s character and repeating Conservative talking points about the man dying of Fentanyl poisoning and not Chauvin’s knee cutting off his air supply.

She then goes out of her way to paint Chauvin as this “good decent man who loved his mommy” and implies (heavily) that he’s an innocent man being sacrificed on the cross by “the system.” She talks to his mother, his co-workers, and friends, and literally does everything aside from showing him walking old ladies across the street and praying over homeless people. Meanwhile, she details Floyd’s life like he was a monster who needed to be put down.

When she finally does get to Black Lives Matter (in the short time she had left) is where the documentary finally gets interesting. The things she exposed have been hidden facts about BLM for a long while now. I know personally, in my dealings with them, that things she spoke on were true. For once, I finally agree with her. Black Lives Matter, as an organization, has misappropriated donation money raised for the victims’ families for years. It’s just now that all of this deceit is finally coming to light.