Satire book The Onion buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families

The Onion has won a bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, backed by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.

“The liquidation of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long waited for and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in a 2012 Connecticut shooting, in a statement provided by his attorneys.

The Onion found a conspiracy theory forum website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks; and video archive. The sale price was not immediately disclosed. Onion said its “exclusive launch sponsor” will be the gun violence prevention organization Alltown for Gun Safety.

“All cities will continue to raise awareness on InfoWars channels about gun violence prevention and bring real solutions to our nation’s gun violence problem, including bipartisan, common sense approaches and public safety initiatives supported by Evertown,” the Onion said in a statement Thursday.

Jones confirmed The Onion’s acquisition of Infowars in a social media video Thursday and said he plans to file legal challenges to stop it.

“The final broadcast is now live from the Infowars studios. They are in the house. They are ordering it to be closed without a court order,” Jones said on social media platform X.

Jones was broadcasting live from the Infowars studio on Thursday morning and appeared distraught, with his head in his hand on his desk.

Sealed bids for the private auction opened on Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones have expressed interest in buying Infowars. Other buyers have not been disclosed.

The Onion, a blasphemous site that can convince people to believe the absurd, bills itself as “the world’s leading news publication, providing the most respected, internationally-respected news on breaking national, international, and domestic events” and claims to have 4.3 billion. daily students.

Jones has been saying on his show that if his rivals buy Infowars, he will move his daily broadcasts and product sales to the new studio, websites and social media accounts he has already set up. He also said that if his supporters win the tenders, they can stay on Infowars forums.

Relatives of many of the 20 children and six teachers killed in the shooting by Jones and his company are suffering from humiliation and emotional distress from repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax by disaster actors to promote more gun control. The parents and children of many of the victims stated that they were traumatized by Jones’ plots and threats from his supporters.

Lawsuits have been filed in Connecticut and Texas. Attorneys for the families in the Connecticut case said they worked with The Onion to try to find Infowars.