Conservative political commentator Candace Owens has defended Brittany Mahomes after she was criticized for liking an Instagram post by US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

This came after followers of Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, noticed that she had allegedly liked a post outlining the Republican Party’s platform for the 2024 elections, which included deporting “pro-Hamas radicals” and banning “men from women’s sports.”

Screenshots and a recorded video indicated that Mahomes liked the post, but according to a review by Newsweekher account is no longer among the current “likes” on the post. Amid the negative reactions she received, the former soccer star condemned “haters” in a post on her Instagram story.

Now Owens, a conservative political commentator, has come to Mahomes’ defense during an episode of her Candace podcast. She argued that Mahomes should be able to like any post she wants, especially during an election season.

Newsweek Spokespeople for Mahomes and Owens emailed for comment on Wednesday.

“Brittany Mahome has an attitude. She doesn’t care (that social media is angry), and I’m here for her,” Owens said at the beginning of the podcast.

Later in the episode, Owens goes deeper into her thoughts and criticizes those who came after Mahomes.

“Britney Mahomes is under fire, uh, because she liked a Trump post, it’s a thing now, I think. You gotta love Hollywood. We’re so accepting. We just love everybody. Love is love, love, love,” she joked.

“Let someone like a post, which they’re allowed to do because it’s an election and you’re not obligated to vote one way or another. And that’s what Brittany Mahomes did, she definitely stepped in, she apparently liked a Trump post.

“This is the post she made, liked, and then un-liked because she got so much criticism for it.”

In case some listeners were unaware of the situation, Owens explained who Mahomes is and what post she reportedly liked on Trump’s Instagram account.

She continued: “So she liked this post. I think she was just saying, ‘Hey, I agree with, maybe not all of them, maybe a few, maybe a couple of these policies.'”

“Given that she’s from the South, it certainly doesn’t stress me out or shock me, but you know, people who live in bubbles like the coasts really believe that everyone thinks like them. They just can’t imagine it—or they think that people in the South are all backward and all racist.

“So they were, they were shocked by this post and one user wrote, ‘Brittany Mahomes just came out as a Trump supporter.’ Gosh, what are we supposed to do with her?

“Another user wrote ‘Patrick Mahomes imagine marrying someone who doesn’t care about your rights and the rights of your child. Britney Mahomes agreeing with Project 2025 but married to a black man with mixed children is insane.’

Owens then expressed her support for Project 2025, saying that those who “care about Project 2025 are just bots.”

The project was set up by the conservative Heritage Foundation as a handbook of detailed policies for a potential next Republican president. Among the items on the list are expanding the presidency’s controls and withdrawing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market.

Sweeping changes are also being proposed to reshape the federal government, including the dismantling of the Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security.

When Mahomes first started receiving backlash from people, she wrote on her Instagram Story, “To be a hater as an adult you have to have some deep rooted issues that you refuse to heal from childhood. There is no reason why your brain is fully developed and you hate to see others do well.”

She has never publicly endorsed any candidate in this or any other election, has never liked any of Trump’s posts, and does not follow the Republican on Instagram.

Still, her like on the post prompted a flood of criticism from her followers and fans of Taylor Swift, who began following Mahomes after Swift began dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce last year.