Harv's Corner 04/27/2026

Harv's Corner

"If you aren’t familiar with Alex Jones and his 'InfoWars' platform, it’s worth looking into—though the reality is unsettling. His rhetoric has crossed lines that have caused profound harm to innocent families. Many believe that the legal consequences he’s faced so far aren't enough and that true accountability should involve criminal charges."

​The Onion has a new plan to take Infowars

GETTY IMAGES ALEX JONES CALLED THE SANDY HOOK SHOOTING A HOAX STAGED BY CRISIS ACTORS IN AN EFFORT TO INCREASE GUN CONTROL.

​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, CEO of the Onion, said the deal could be in place by April 30 if approved by a judge. He said the Onion has hired people to run Infowars as a parody site, including Tim Heidecker 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, adding that the Sandy Hook families would receive profits from the new operations.

After the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which killed 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., 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 for defamation and emotional distress.

On his show Monday, Jones vowed to fight the licensing proposal in court but acknowledged he and his crew could soon be kicked out of the building. He said he would continue his shows in another studio.

The Onion licensing deal would be for six months, with the right to renew it for another six months as a court-appointed receiver works to sell assets and give proceeds to the Sandy Hook families.

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 no proof that linked him to the actions.

A jury awarded the families and the FBI agent more than $1.4 billion in damages. In Texas, the parents of a child killed at Sandy Hook were awarded nearly $50 million. Jones lost his appeal in the Connecticut case; his appeal in Texas is pending.

As part of Jones’ bankruptcy proceedings, an auction was held in 2024 to liquidate Infowars’ assets, 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.

A lawyer for the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones in Connecticut said they support the Onion’s plan.
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS