The Onion launches new bid to take over Alex Jones' Infowars and turn it
into a parody platform
[April 21, 2026]
By DAVE COLLINS
The satirical news outlet The Onion is back with a new plan to take over
the Infowars platforms of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as his company
faces liquidation over more than $1 billion in defamation judgments owed
to relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Under a proposal submitted Monday to a state judge in Texas, The Onion
would be granted an exclusive, temporary license to the intellectual
property of Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, allowing the
outlet to put its own content on the Infowars website and social media
accounts.
Ben Collins, chief executive of The Onion, said the deal could be in
place around April 30, if approved by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in
Austin. He said The Onion has already hired people to run Infowars as a
parody site including Tim Heidecker, one half of the comedy duo Tim and
Eric known for their work on the Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” shows.
“We’ll build this into a bigger comedy network,” Collins said in phone
interview Monday, adding the Sandy Hook families would receive profits
from the new operations.
“A big part of it for us is that the way people consume news now is they
see somebody who has no idea what the (expletive) they’re talking about
staring into their camera and just like coming up with conspiracy
theories or telling you health hacks that will actually get you
poisoned, things like that," he said. "We’re going to create a bunch of
characters and worlds around those kinds of things."
After the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which killed 20 first graders and
six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, Jones called it a hoax staged by
“crisis actors” in an effort to increase gun control. Many relatives of
the victims, along with an FBI agent who responded to the shooting, sued
Jones and his company for defamation and infliction of emotional
distress.
On his show Monday, Jones vowed to fight the licensing proposal in court
but acknowledged he and his crew could be kicked out of the building at
the end of the month. He said he would continue his shows in another
studio he is preparing, and they would air on his personal X account and
other new social media accounts and websites, as well as dozens of radio
stations. He also has set up new websites for the merchandise he sells,
including dietary supplements and clothing that bring in millions of
dollars a year.
“I’m going to continue the exact same show," he said. "It’ll just be
called the ‘Alex Jones Show.’ So, it’s the same satellite, same system.
It's a different news site and news studio. So I’m not going anywhere.”
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A copy of the satirical outlet The Onion is seen, Nov. 14,
2024, in Little Rock, Ark. (AP Photo/Jill Bleed, File)
 The licensing deal with The Onion
would be for six months, with the right to renew it for another six
months as a court-appointed receiver works to eventually sell the
assets of Infowars’ parent company, Austin-based Free Speech
Systems, and give proceeds to the Sandy Hook families. The receiver
is supporting the plan, which calls for The Onion to pay $81,000 a
month to cover the rent for the building housing Infowars' studios,
along with utilities and other costs.
During a trial of the defamation suit in Connecticut in 2022,
victims' relatives testified that people whom they called followers
of Jones subjected them to death and rape threats, in-person
harassment and abusive comments on social media over the hoax
claims. Jones argued there was never any proof that linked him to
the actions of others.
A jury and judge awarded the families and the FBI agent more than
$1.4 billion in damages. In a similar lawsuit in Texas, the parents
of a child killed at Sandy Hook were awarded nearly $50 million.
Jones appealed both awards. He lost his challenges to the
Connecticut judgment, while his appeal of the Texas award is still
pending.
Jones filed for bankruptcy in late 2022. In those proceedings, an
auction was held in November 2024 to liquidate Infowars’ assets to
help pay the defamation judgments, and The Onion was named the
winning bidder. But the bankruptcy judge threw out the auction
results, citing problems with the process and The Onion’s bid.
The attempt to sell off Infowars’ assets later moved to the state
court in Texas, where Guerra Gamble appointed a receiver to
liquidate the assets of Jones' company. Jones is also appealing that
ruling, which has put a hold on the liquidation.
A lawyer for the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones in Connecticut
said they support The Onion's plan.
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