The satirical information publication The Onion received the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a chapter public sale, backed by households of Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty capturing victims whom Jones owes greater than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the bloodbath a hoax.
The acquisition turns over Jones’ firm, which for many years has peddled in conspiracy and misinformation, to a humor web site that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January as a parody. Inside hours of the sale’s announcement Thursday, Infowars’ web site was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he stated was a brand new studio location.
“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ property and the demise of Infowars is the justice we’ve got lengthy awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed within the 2012 capturing in Connecticut, stated in an announcement offered by his legal professionals.
The Onion acquired the conspiracy principle platform’s web site; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; emblems; and video archive for an undisclosed gross sales value.
The satirical outlet — which carries the banner of “America’s Best Information Supply” on its masthead — was based within the Nineteen Eighties and for many years has skewered politics and popular culture, together with making Jones a frequent goal of mocking articles. Mass shootings within the U.S., such because the Sandy Hook assault, are sometimes adopted by The Onion publishing barely up to date variations of considered one of its most well-known recurring items: “‘No Strategy to Stop This,’ Says Solely Nation The place This Usually Occurs.”
“No value can be too excessive for such a cornucopia of malleable property and minds,” The Onion stated in a satirical publish in regards to the sale. “And but, in a stroke of excellent fortune, a formidable particular curiosity group has outwitted the hapless proprietor of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten identify) and compelled him to promote it at a steep discount: lower than one trillion {dollars}.”
On his reside broadcast, Jones was indignant and defiant, vowing to problem the sale in courtroom and calling it “a complete assault on free speech.” He later introduced his present was being shut down.
Jones, who had instructed listeners for days that he had a brand new studio arrange close by, then resumed his broadcast from the brand new location, carrying them reside on his accounts on X.
He claimed the takeover by The Onion was untimely as a result of the chapter decide had not but signed off on the profitable bid.
A Jones-affiliated firm named by the chapter trustee because the backup bid requested a right away standing convention, citing “the obvious defects within the sale course of, together with altering the procedures, lack of transparency, and inaccurate disclosures to bidders.”
The Onion, based mostly in Chicago, consulted on the bidding with a number of the Sandy Hook households that sued Jones for defamation and emotional misery in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, legal professionals for the households stated.
“Our purchasers knew that true accountability meant an finish to Infowars and an finish to Jones’ potential to unfold lies, ache and worry at scale,” stated Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the households.
Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion’s mother or father firm, International Tetrahedron, instructed The Related Press in a video interview that it’ll relaunch the Infowars web site in January with satire aimed toward conspiracy theorists and right-wing personalities, in addition to academic details about gun violence prevention from the group Everytown for Gun Security. Collins wouldn’t disclose the sale value.
“We thought it could be a really humorous joke if we purchased this factor, in all probability one of many higher jokes we’ve ever instructed,” Collins stated. “The (Sandy Hook) households determined they might successfully be a part of our bid, again our bid, to attempt to get us over the end line. As a result of by the top of the day, it was us or Alex Jones, who may both proceed this web site unabated, mainly unpunished, for what he’s accomplished to those households over time, or we may make a dumb, silly web site, and we determined to do the second factor.”
