Christina Applegate eviscerates Candace Owens for criticising underwear ad featuring wheelchair user

Christina Applegate has admonished Candace Owens on Twitter over her criticism of an underwear advert featuring a model in a wheelchair.

In a recently-resurfaced clip from 2022, the conservative commentator took issue with Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS Adaptive clothing line, which offers products for those with limited mobility.

Applegate – who announced her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2021 – responded to the clip on Wednesday night (22 March).

“Yes late tweet. But woke to see the most horrifying thing. This Candace person making comments about companies who see we need help. It’s f---ing gross,” the Anchorman star wrote.

“I thank skims and Tommy and Guide beauty and @neowalksticks for seeing us. To you #youshouldknowbetter”

In a separate tweet, she continued: “Going to try and sleep but my rage is keeping me awake. Candace Owens, do you know when you have seen pictures of me how f***ing hard it was to get my clothes on? A team has to help me!!! So I’m excited for accessibility clothing for me and my community.”

She later followed up again, writing: “I thought my last tweet was enough. But then my heart said something else. No rage. If Candace wants to get on the phone with me to be educated on being disabled. I will not come with anger. I will come with love. Because she needs to hear that. I pray for her tonight.sincerely.”

The Independent has contacted Owens’s representatives for comment.

In the 2022 clip from her Daily Wire talk series, Owens called the SKIMS adverts “ridiculous”. “I’m just getting tired of this all-inclusivity thing,” she said.

“Look, I assume that people who are in wheelchairs also have to buy bras, also have to buy underwear… I didn’t know that we needed to see that in our face.”

The model in the campaign (Haleigh Rosa) has also spoken out about Owens’s criticism, telling Forbes recently: “After getting injured I remember not seeing anyone like me in campaigns. At the same time, I was relearning simple tasks like clothing myself.

“It would have been so helpful to see someone in a wheelchair; I’m so happy that we’re finally coming around. Seeing someone like you matters; representation matters.”

In a similar vein to Applegate, Rosa added: “If [Owens] truly wants to educate herself, she can reach out to me. I’m not one for cancel culture; I believe in the power of education. I’d love to have a conversation and educate Candace.”

In a video shared Wednesday, Owens addressed the backlash over her comments.

“Let’s debunk the idea that I’m an ableist,” she said. “I thought that was really, really interesting, that I somehow wanted to pursue disabled people and I somehow wanted them out of spaces. That is absolute nonsense.

“I’ve spent my entire life fighting the idea that, in order for me to feel like I’m allowed to be Black or that I’m allowed to be a woman, I need to therefore see Black women everywhere. That is the opposite of what it means to actually have confidence. I don’t need to see Tyra Banks being a model. I don’t need to see Tyra Banks wearing underwear.”

Applegate recently attended this year’s SAG Awards, which she said would be her last awards show appearance due to her MS diagnosis. The actor attended the event using a cane that carried an “FU MS” sticker on it.