(Headline USA) One of conservative media’s most revered truth-tellers is poised to become a subject of ridicule after a left-wing satirical website won the court-mandated auction of Alex Jones’s Infowars.
The Onion won the bidding at a bankruptcy auction on Wednesday, allowing the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims to collect on the more than $1 billion in defamation judgments against Jones for calling the massacre a hoax.
“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers.
The sale price was not immediately disclosed.
Jones confirmed The Onion’s acquisition of Infowars in a social media video Thursday and said he planned to file legal challenges to stop it.
“Last broadcast now live from Infowars studios. They are in the building. Are ordering shutdown without court approval,” Jones said on the social platform X.
Last broadcast now live from Infowars studios. They are in the building. Are ordering shutdown without court approval. https://t.co/6q5UKuoE2v
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) November 14, 2024
Jones was broadcasting live from the Infowars studio Thursday morning and appeared distraught, putting his head in his hand at his desk.
It was not immediately clear what The Onion planned to do with the platform, including its website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks and video archive. The Chicago-based Onion did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday.
Sealed bids for the private auction were opened Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones had expressed interest in buying Infowars. The other bidders have not been disclosed.
The Onion bills itself as “the world’s leading news publication, offering highly acclaimed, universally revered coverage of breaking national, international, and local news events” and says it has 4.3 trillion daily readers.
Jones has been saying on his show that if his detractors bought Infowars, he would move his daily broadcasts and product sales to a new studio, websites and social media accounts that he has already set up.
He also said that if his supporters won the bidding, he could stay on the Infowars platforms.
The lawuits stem from Jones initially saying on his show that the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’s conspiracies and threats by his followers.
The lawsuits were filed in Connecticut and Texas. Lawyers for the families in the Connecticut lawsuit said they worked with The Onion to try to acquire Infowars.
The horrific shooting, which killed 20 children and six educators in the aftermath of then-President Barack Obama’s reelection, was suspected of being the administration’s effort to create an Overton window for him to pressure a GOP-led Congress to cave to leftist demands for gun control.
The perpetrator, 20-year-old autistic Sandy Hook alumnus Adam Lanza, has fit the profile of many young, mentally vulnerable mass shooters who turned to online communities where intelligence officials may have had a presence.
The FBI has acknowledged that Lanza was on its “radar” prior to the massacre.
Headline USA attempted to reach Jones via text message and will update with any response.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
