Infowars host Alex Jones went shirtless Monday as he reacted to a deal revealed by The Onion earlier that day to acquire his right-wing bankruptcy-centric brand and website.
“Look, just because you’re wearing my shirt doesn’t mean you’re me, so let’s be 100 percent clear about that,” the Infowars founder and host announced during a live broadcast on X. Earlier that day, The Onion and its parent company Global Tetrahedron announced a licensing deal for the company’s brand names and intellectual property, including its website. The agreement comes about a year and a half after a bankruptcy judge rejected The Onion’s previous efforts to acquire Infowars.
The outlet founded by Jones was in receivership after families of Sandy Hook victims successfully sued for bankruptcy. However, this new deal with The Onion requires court approval, which has left Jones fuming about what the satirical outlet has in store for his website if a judge approves the proposed takeover.
“They’ll misrepresent themselves as us to confuse people and, quote, ‘rip people off like Alex Jones did.’ They’ll make money. It’s all about defaming me. You can’t just grab something and then act like you’re someone, even if you say it’s a parody. You can make a parody of someone, but not if you take something away from them,” Jones said.
The licensing deal will see The Onion pay a monthly fee of $81,000 to the brand’s bankruptcy administrator for six months, with an option to extend it for a further six months. Additionally, comedian Tim Heidecker has been named creative director of Infowars.
The bankruptcy proceedings were the result of a defamation lawsuit filed against Jones by the families of Sandy Hook victims. The latter had claimed that the 2012 school shooting was a “hoax” and carried out by actors. Several families successfully sued Jones for defamation and emotional damages, and in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation suit against Jones and his company Free Speech Systems. Jones declared bankruptcy in 2022, selling off his assets to pay off his creditors.
Jones said on his Live X broadcast that The Onion, with its subversive comedy, aims to confuse audiences about Infowars. He added: “They are body snatchers. They may try to seize our clothes, and we are still representing information warfare,” amid attempts to continue operating information warfare in the event that the site is seized by the satirical newspaper.
