In a move that blurs the line between satire and the satire of satire, The Onion plans to lease Alex Jones's misinformation hub, Infowars, under a deal provisionally approved by a Texas court. The satirical website intends to turn the right-wing outlet into a parody of itself, presumably by running it exactly as is.
Under the proposed deal with court administrators, The Onion's parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would lease Infowars for $81,000 a month for six months, with an option to renew. This sum is a mere surface scratch on the $1.4bn defamation judgment against Jones for claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting, which killed more than 20 children, was a hoax. Jones and Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, declared bankruptcy in 2022.
"With the help of the Sandy Hook families, The Onion has reached a long-awaited deal to take over InfoWars," CEO Ben Collins announced on social media, adding that comedian Tim Heidecker would become Infowars' creative director. To set the tone, Collins posted a link to a statement from a fake Global Tetrahedron owner, Bryce P Tetraeder, which read: "With this new InfoWars, we will democratize psychological torture, welcoming brutal and sadistic ideas from everyone, even the very stupidest among us."
However, the deal must be signed off by Texas judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who initially blocked a sale to The Onion, unconvinced its bid had more value than one from bidders associated with Jones. This is The Onion's second attempt to buy Infowars, a site that rose to prominence by challenging official historical narratives for an audience eager to see government conspiracies.
If Jones's stock in trade is adapting news for an audience for whom nothing is as it seems, The Onion's alternative spin is to turn news into Gen Z entertainment. Both approaches, it's worth noting, rely on selling branded products for revenue. Judge Gamble is likely to rule on the deal within two weeks, though Jones could appeal any ruling. Meanwhile, Jones continues to operate Infowars and host *The Alex Jones Show*.
Heidecker told The Guardian he plans to parody Jones's "whole modus operandi," saying, "I just thought it would be just a beautiful joke if we could take this pretty toxic, negative, destructive force of Infowars and rebrand it as this beautiful place for our creativity." Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, said the goal is to prevent Jones from doing harm, and The Onion deal promises "to significantly degrade his power to do that."