The Onion, a satirical news site that satirizes current affairs and the journalists who cover it, said on Thursday that it had won the bankruptcy auction to control Infowars and other media outlets founded by Alex Jones, a far-right peddler of conspiracy theories.
Representatives from The Onion told the New York Times that its bid was sanctioned by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, who successfully sued Jones for $1.4 billion in a defamation lawsuit. The families sued Jones after he falsely claimed that the shooting was a false flag to justify the confiscation of Americans' firearms.
The Sandy Hook lawsuit drove Jones to bankruptcy, and a Houston judge ruled that Infowars and other assets owned by Jones could be auctioned off to pay off his creditors. It was The Onion's bid that prevailed, though it declined to tell news outlets how much it paid.
Jones announced the sale himself Thursday morning.
“I just got word 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and folks met with the U.S. trustee over our bankruptcy this morning and they said they are shutting us down even without a court order this morning,” he wrote on social media. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to be here until they come and turn the lights off."
The lights will turn back on in January 2025, when Infowars is relaunched as a parody of itself that mocks “weird internet personalities” likes Jones who traffic conspiracy theories and health supplements, according to The Onion.
“We thought this would be a hilarious joke. This is going to be our answer to this no-guardrails world where there are no gatekeepers and everything’s kind of insane," Ben Collins, chief executive of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, told the Times.
In the lead up to acquiring Infowars, Collins, a former NBC News reporter, said he had spoken to Sandy Hook victims' family members, who he said expressed support for the bid. “They’re all human beings with senses of humor who want fun things to happen and want good things to take place in their lives,” he said. “They want to be part of something good and positive too.”
