The satirical news site The Onion isn’t waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones ’ conspiracy platform.
More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, The Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The families have still received no money from Jones since courts ordered him to pay more than $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 shooting a hoax.
The Onion will start by sending the families $100,000 from merchandise sales that combine the conspiracy empire’s brand with the The Onion’s logo in rainbow colors, according to CEO Ben Collins, whose company is still in court trying to take control of Infowars.
“Don’t give comedy writers a grudge for 18 months,” Collins said.
The parody will include a series of shows and other content under Infowars branding that spoof Jones’ aggressive mashup of conspiracies linking major news events, dubious scientific claims, attacks on people suffering in tragedies and sales of supplements and survival gear.
Jones’ claims that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut is a hoax have no truth, but Jones continued to amplify them. His followers started to harass victims’ families, suggesting they were “crisis actors” and even making death threats.
Jones’ Infowars empire had 10 million visitors a month and generated more than $50 million in annual revenues at its peak, according to the company. But the $1.4 billion judgments in defamation cases in Connecticut and Texas, where Jones is based, forced him into bankruptcy and broke Infowars apart.
“All he’s been left with is an iPhone and a fancy microphone,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for nine of the Sandy Hook families.
Jones has moved his show to a different website. An email sent to an address to request interviews went unanswered.
The families knew they could never stop Jones from getting his message out, and he has managed to avoid paying the judgment so far. But they could expose what he said and assure he can never profit again, Mattei said.
“Every dime Alex Jones makes from here until the end of eternity is going to be claimed by the families,” Mattei said.
The Onion stepped in when Collins saw Infowars’ assets were going to be sold at auction.
Collins spoke to Sandy Hook families, who said they were briefly skeptical, but then saw how The Onion’s staff could use the Infowars style and branding to take the moral high ground and make fun of the people who not only caused them so much pain but they felt also poisoned society.
Collins didn’t want to give away too much of the new stuff before it goes live Thursday.
But the new Infowars will maintain The Onion’s sharp satire sprinkled with shock value. Collins said there will be a section selling a penis flattening device, a fake “pro oxygen” supplement pill that the host claims can replace breathing, as well as an extended debate on how many Bozo the Clowns there are.
“It’s old-fashioned Infowars — using the tricks that they use to get people addicted to outrage and, I would say, addicted to anticipation, trying to find the thing that’s around the corner that’s going to save your life,” Collins said.
The Onion will keep chasing Jones’ property. Collins thinks they will soon get control of the Austin, Texas, studio Infowars once used.
Some families can’t wait for that day. Collins said that Robbie Parker, whose daughter died at Sandy Hook, plans to read his book about fighting Jones while dealing with so much grief in the place Jones once sat.
The families at first wanted Infowars shut down forever and Jones never heard from again. But they are now looking forward to seeing what The Onion has planned, attorney Mattei said.
“The idea that it could be turned to some social good. I think it’s even better,” Mattei said. “So, yeah, I think the families are both pleased and amused with what they’ve been able to achieve here.”