NEW YORK (Reuters) – The parody website The Onion bought conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars brand and website in a bankruptcy auction, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Jones, who filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 after courts ordered him to pay $1.5 billion for defaming the families of 20 students and six staff members killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones, unable to pay those legal judgments, was forced to auction his assets, including Infowars, in bankruptcy.
“They’re shutting us down,” Jones said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “I’m going to be here until they come in here and turn the lights off.”
The Connecticut families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting backed the Onion’s bid, saying it would put “an end to the misinformation machine” that Jones operated.
The Onion will acquire Infowars’ intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory, certain social media accounts and the Jones’ Infowars’ production equipment, the families said in a statement.
(This story has been refiled to restore a dropped word in paragraph 1)