Arts & Entertainment
The Onion’s Executive Editor on Plans for Infowars, Satire in a Second Trump Presidency
Satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction last week, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre that killed 20 children and six adults a hoax.
Along with the conspiracy theorist’s website, The Onion also acquired social media accounts, trademarks, a video archive and a studio in Austin, Texas.
Jones and a company he’s affiliated with, First United American Companies, are now pushing back against the acquisition and asking for the winning bid to be disqualified, claiming fraud and collusion in a “rigged” auction.
First United American Companies was the only other bidder.
The bankruptcy trustee overseeing the sale has since refuted these allegations, calling them “baseless” in a court filing.
This news comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election. Jones is an outspoken supporter of the president-elect, previously having him on his program during Trump’s first campaign run. Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), has also called Jones a truth-teller.
The Onion’s executive editor, Jordan LaFlure, said covering a second Trump term is a challenge that political satirists are uniquely qualified for despite the difficulty.
“One of the comedic tools that we frequently use is heightening,” LaFlure said, “and it’s difficult to heighten from such a place of bombast and untruth. I don’t know if it is the most effective tool to change hearts and minds, but I do think it’s an effective tool to let people know that there are people watching and people who understand what’s happening.”
The Onion is planning to turn Infowars into a parody of itself — poking fun at internet personalities who peddle conspiracy theories and supplements, like Jones. While The Onion is mimicking an institutional voice, an Infowars parody will lean into caricatures and commentary of the unhinged personalities that are prevalent in offbeat social media channels.
Jones has already found ways to promote his ideas, still broadcasting from his studio in Austin and fundraising to keep his brand alive amid the financial and legal setbacks.
“The important part was to take the brand and use it for good,” LaFlure said. “A man of his constitution we knew would be impossible to silence. We look forward to using his brand for something other than what he would have liked.”
Nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety said it will use the Infowars platforms to raise awareness about gun violence.
LaFlure said The Onion has a long history of commenting on the country’s issue with gun violence, citing the site’s famous headline: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” which the site has published 37 times following the aftermath of mass shootings in the U.S.
The editor said he understands where the public skepticism of traditional media comes from and that satirists can more deftly “call a spade a spade.”
“Traditional media can be a little mealy-mouthed when they’re evaluating controversial topics and political figures who have no concern for the truth,” LaFlure said. “We do it through the lens of jokes, but we can call people out more directly.”
The new version of Infowars is expected to launch in January with the same URL.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
