Who are Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens? Philly protest of Turning Point USA leaders goes viral

Videos showing demonstrators who surrounded two conservative figures at a Philadelphia restaurant have made been making the rounds across the internet and on cable news.

Do the names Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA mean anything to you? If not, that's OK. Here's an explainer on the figures involved in the events popping up across your newsfeed.

Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens are leaders of Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit whose mission is "to build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on college campuses across the country," according to its website.

Founded in 2012, Turning Point USA is represented on more than 1,000 college campuses and high schools across the country.

Kirk is the organization's founder and executive director. He's been described as "Trump's man on campus" and "Kid Trump" in media profiles of him.

Owens is the group's spokeswoman and director of communications. Both have earned praise from President Trump.

"Candace Owens of Turning Point USA is having a big impact on politics in our Country," the president tweeted in May. "She represents an ever expanding group of very smart 'thinkers,' and it is wonderful to watch and hear the dialogue going on…so good for our Country!"

The two sat at a window seat at the Green Eggs Cafe location at 13th and Locust Streets on Monday morning and were met by a group of protesters and police, according to video they posted on Twitter and the Washington Post.

"The protesters were screaming 'White Supremacist' and something about immigrants." Malik Joe, a manager at the restaurant, told the newspaper, adding that the protesters threw food and objects.

Owens and Kirk took to Twitter to share videos of the event, which garnered hundreds of thousands of views online.

The videos contain profane language.

The specifics behind the skirmish remain unclear: The identities of the protesters are not known and there's no indication the demonstration was due to Owens' race.

Philadelphia police did not disclose the number of police or activists involved but confirmed no arrests were made.

While it's not clear who exactly took part in the demonstration, the Twitter account @PhillyANTIFA shared a Huffington Post article about the organization titled "Turning Point USA Keeps Accidentally Hiring Racists."

"For folks who are unfamiliar with them, check out this background material of exactly what these Turning Point bigots are all about," @PhillyANTIFA wrote.

Kirk and Owens appeared on Fox News' Hannity and Fox & Friends to elaborate on Monday's events.

"We don't want to play the victim card here," Kirk said on Hannity. "That's what the left does all the time."

"This is Maxine Waters' America," Owens added.

Following national controversy over the Trump administration's responses to family separation at the border, Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) encouraged people to confront members of Trump's cabinet if seen in public.

"Let's make sure we show up wherever we have to show up," Waters said in June, according to CNN. "And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere. We've got to get the children connected to their parents."

Owens and Kirk are not members of Trump's cabinet.

Political commentator Chris Hahn appeared on Fox News and questioned the legitimacy of the events, the news site Mediate reported.

"I was very dubious on this protest," he said. "I don't know how these people found Charlie Kirk and Ms. Owens — Candace Owens in Philadelphia," Hahn said. "I'm suspicious of this, whether or not this is real or not. I'm not saying I know for sure, I don't. But it's kind of weird to me."

Kirk and Owens rejected that claim, according to the Washington Post.

"The accusation we staged a protest against ourselves is hard to even address seriously," Kirk said.

Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy prefaced Tuesday's interview by saying the two were meeting in Philadelphia, where he said Owens lives, for a business meeting.

"We kind of progressed through breakfast, having fun, you know, just going through Turning Point USA-related business items and we look out the window about 30 minutes later and a mob starts to form," Kirk said.