The Onion has agreed to a new deal to take over Infowars : NPR
In this photo illustration, The Onion website is displayed on a computer screen, showing a satirical story titled Here’s Why I Decided to Buy ‘InfoWars’, November 14, 2024 in Pasadena, California.
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The satirical site The Onion has a new deal to take over Infowarsthe far-right media company of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. If approved by a Texas judge, the deal would strip him of his Infowars microphone and allow The Onion to resume its plan to turn the website into a parody of itself.
Families of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who sued Jones for defamationI want the sale to take place. They are I’m still waiting to recover on the nearly $1.3 billion judgment they won against Jones for spreading lies they fabricated the deaths of their children in order to build support for gun control. This prompted Jones supporters to harass and threaten families for years.
The families are also eager to take Jones off the platform for spewing such conspiracy theories. The deal would not only separate Jones from his Infowars brand, but it would turn the platform against him by allowing The Onion to mock his brand of conspiracy and advocate for gun control.
The families “took on Alex Jones to stop him from inflicting the same harm on others” by using “his corrupt business platform to torment and harass them for profit,” said Chris Mattei, one of the families’ attorneys. “When Infowars finally dies down, the machinery of lies built by Jones will become a force for social good, thanks to the courage of the families and the vision, perseverance and stewardship of The Onion.”
A mourner visits the permanent Sandy Hook memorial on the 10th anniversary of the school shooting December 14, 2022 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot and killed, including 20 first graders and six educators, in one of the deadliest elementary school shootings in U.S. history.
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For its part, The Onion called it “an important step in an effort to transform one of the Internet’s most notorious misinformation platforms into a new satirical comedy network.” The company says it could announce the new Infowars rollout in a few weeks if the judge approves the deal.
“Eight years, almost to the day, after Sandy Hook parents filed suit against Alex Jones, they will finally get justice, and even money,” said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. “This is an opportunity to create something truly new from a very broken piece of media history.”
On its website Monday, The Onion posted a satirical message of its parent company Global Tetrahedron’s fictional CEO, “Bryce P. Tetraeder”, stating that a “dream is finally coming true”.
that of Jones posted on Monday that “The Onion has fraudulently claimed again that it owns Infowars!!!” adding that “the Democratic Party’s disinformation publication publicly brags about its plan to silence Alex Jones’ information wars, then steal and misrepresent his identity!” »
In a podcast in March, Jones hinted at Infowars’ impending demise, saying, “We’re being shut down.” We have defeated so many attacks. But ultimately, we will close around the middle of next month,” before insisting: “Everything will be fine.
Jones suggested Monday that he would appeal any court ruling approving the lease agreement. And even if he loses control of Infowars, Jones could continue broadcasting from another studio, under a different name.
Jones’ lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.
More than a year ago, a federal government the bankruptcy judge rejected The onion first attempt to purchase Infowars through a bankruptcy auction, claiming the process was flawed. Since then, the bankruptcy court has clarified that because Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, is not itself bankrupt, its assets should instead be managed by a Texas state receiver. This paved the way for the new agreement being made to lease Infowars to The Onion, with the hope that a future sale could be approved.
In documents filed in state court, the Texas receiver said it “determined that licensing intellectual property was in the best interest of the receivership estate.”
The agreement calls for The Onion to pay $81,000 per month to license the Infowars.com domain and brand name, which the trustee says will “cover carrying costs to preserve and protect the estate’s assets in escrow” until an appeal filed by Jones is resolved and the way is cleared for a sale.
Jones’ personal bankruptcy case is pending in federal bankruptcy court, where a trustee continues to sell Jones’ personal assets, including cars, homes, watches and guns, with the proceeds going to the families.
A memorial to the victims of the massacre stands near the former site of Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2013 in Newtown, Connecticut, a year after Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 first graders and six adults at the school.
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