Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones faced widespread ridicule after satirical news outlet The Onion was announced as the winning bidder for his website Infowars in a bankruptcy auction on Thursday.
The bid was supported by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, to whom Jones owes over $1 billion in defamation judgments for falsely claiming the tragedy was a hoax.
Ben Collins, CEO of Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, announced on social media that the acquisition of Infowars was made with the support of the Sandy Hook families impacted by Jones’ misinformation.
Collins shared that the new Infowars will be reimagined by The Onion’s team, evolving into a parody of its former self, complete with ads from Everytown for Gun Safety, an anti-gun violence nonprofit founded after the Sandy Hook tragedy.
He said:
“We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website. We have retained the services of some Onion and Clickhole Hall of Famers to pull this off. I can’t wait to show you what we have cooked up.”
Founded in the 1980s, the satirical outlet known as "America’s Finest News Source" has spent decades lampooning politics and pop culture, with Alex Jones often in its crosshairs. In the aftermath of mass shootings like Sandy Hook, The Onion frequently republishes one of its most iconic recurring articles: “‘No Way to Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”
And the news it had acquired Jones' site seemed a perfect case of poetic justice.
During a court hearing Thursday afternoon in Houston, auction trustee Christopher Murray confirmed that while The Onion didn’t submit the highest bid for Infowars, it presented a more favorable outcome overall. This was partly because some Sandy Hook families agreed to forgo part of the sale proceeds to help pay Jones' other creditors.
The only other bid came from First United American Companies, affiliated with a site selling Jones' products, though Murray noted he couldn’t specify the dollar value of The Onion's offer.
After the hearing, Jones aired grievances on his show, alleging the auction was “rigged” and voicing hope that the judge would overturn the sale. He assured listeners that he had prepared backup studios, websites, and social media channels should the sale proceed unfavorably.
Jones reiterated his long-standing claim that the lawsuits and proceedings constitute “a total attack on free speech." Figures.
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