The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax. The purchase turns over Jones company , which for decades has peddled in conspiracy and misinformation, to a humor website that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January as a parody. Within hours of the sales announcement Thursday, Infowars website was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location.
The dissolution of Alex Jones assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for, Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers. The Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platforms website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks; and video archive for an undisclosed sales price. The satirical outlet which carries the banner of Americas Finest News Source on its masthead was founded in the 1980s and for decades has skewered politics and pop culture, including making Jones a frequent target of mocking articles.
Mass shootings in the U.S. , such as the Sandy Hook attack , are often followed by The Onion publishing slightly updated versions of one of its most well-known recurring pieces: “'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regular.
