The satire outlet is striking a court-backed deal to take control of the platform’s brand and operations.
Under a new court-backed proposal involving the broadcaster’s Sandy Hook defamation liabilities, The Onion wants to take temporary control of Alex Jones’ Infowars and run what its executives described as a parody version of the conspiracy platform.
The plan, filed in a Texas state court, would give Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, a six-month lease on Infowars’ intellectual property and operations at $81,000 a month, with an option to extend the arrangement for another six months. The proposal has the support of the court-appointed receiver and attorneys for the Sandy Hook families, but it still requires final judicial approval.
The Onion wants to repurpose the Infowars website and social media accounts for satirical content, while the outlet’s chief executive officer Ben Collins said the goal is to build it into a broader comedy platform. Comedian Tim Heidecker is expected to serve as creative director if the deal moves forward.
Jones has pushed back on the plan, blaming Onion for doing so “Misrepresentation” Mislead audiences by presenting themselves as genuine outlets under the guise of infotainment and parody. He argued that parody does not give anyone the right to take over the identity of another platform, his team said. “Already checked with lawyers,” and claimed that he was already taking legal action against politically affiliated law firms.
Jones stressed that even if he lost control of Infowars’ current site or studio, he and his team would continue to broadcast elsewhere through what he described as an expanded “Congress” program. “Alex Jones Network” And new websites are already being created.
The move marks a renewed effort by The Onion to gain control of Infowars after a bankruptcy judge blocked its previous winning auction bid in December 2024, leaving Jones in control of the platform for some time.
Jones’s media company, Free Speech Systems, entered bankruptcy proceedings as he faced a defamation judgment of more than $1 billion due to his false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The US Supreme Court later declined to hear their appeal, leaving the nearly $1.4 billion judgment in place.
A hearing on the latest licensing arrangement has reportedly been scheduled for April 30 in Travis County, Texas, and Jones can still appeal any adverse ruling.
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