The Onion has revealed its relaunch of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ outlet Info Wars as a satirical site, but the deal still requires court approval.
Info Wars has remained in limbo after the families of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 sued Jones for defamation. Jones had baselessly claimed the mass shooting was a hoax, and as a result, he has been ordered by the courts to pay about $1.5 billion. Jones declared bankruptcy in 2022, and The Onion has been eyeing his outlet in the years since.
In The Onion’s latest effort to obtain Info Wars, the satirical news outlet announced Monday that it has reached an agreement to license the Info Wars site.
If approved by the court, The Onion will use the license agreement to “transform one of the internet’s most notorious misinformation platforms into a new comedy network built for satire, internet culture and emerging creative voices,” according to a press release from The Onion.
The Onion plans to launch the comedy network and its digital platform in the coming weeks.
On Monday, Gregory Milligan, the court-appointed manager for the Info Wars site, asked Texas-based District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to approve the licensing agreement, The New York Times reported.
Under the agreement, The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 a month to license the Info Wars site and its intellectual property for six months, according to The NYT. After the initial six months are up, Global Tetrahedron will reportedly get the option to renew for another six months.
"This is about accountability, and what comes next. We’re taking something that caused real harm and turning it into something much funnier, and ideally, more useful,” Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, said in a statement shared with The Independent.
During a livestream on Info Wars Monday, Jones said The Onion’s plans to turn the outlet into a satirical site amounted to “stealing my identity” and said the venture would be “misrepresenting who I am.”
In 2024, Judge Christopher Lopez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court ordered a court-appointed trustee to sell off assets owned by Info Wars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, to help pay off Jones’ debts.
Later that year, Global Tetrahedron entered a sealed-bid auction for the company's assets. It’s $1.75 million bid was chosen over a higher $3.5 million offer from First United American Companies, a firm linked to Jones. But Judge Lopez said he would not approve the sale, citing concerns about the auction process and the amount of money the families were set to receive.
The Independent has reached out to Info Wars for comment.
Tim Heidecker, a comedian from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, is expected to help lead The Onion’s new outlet as its creative director.
“This is a chance to build a place for ambitious, specific, internet-native comedy and to make something genuinely new out of a very broken piece of media history,” Heidecker said in The Onion’s press release.
Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said in the release, “When Info Wars finally goes dark, the machinery of lies that Jones built will become a force for social good, thanks to the families’ courage and The Onion’s vision, persistence and stewardship.”
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