Alex Jones signed off his final InfoWars broadcast this week with defiance and bravado, promising a comeback, even as his long‑running conspiracy platform went dark amid an intensifying legal battle with the satirical news outlet The Onion over control of the brand.
The Austin, Texas‑based show, which Jones has hosted for more than two decades, shut down after a court‑appointed receiver overseeing his assets stopped covering operating expenses. The move forced the closure of InfoWars’ studio as courts continue to grapple with how to liquidate Jones’ media empire to satisfy more than $1 billion in defamation judgments owed to families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
In his final broadcast Thursday, Jones lashed out at The Onion and framed the shutdown as a temporary setback, vowing to continue his work through new platforms.
“They’re turning the power off at midnight,” Jones said, after claiming that the final broadcast would air hours of Sandy Hook documentation. “Private detectives are coming in to close the doors, and they’re going to act like they got their big-ass victory, but notice, the state courts just blocked the little rat-confessed satanists from coming in to wear our skin for months while we launch our operation.”
Newsweek reached out to The Onion by email for comment.
The closure comes as The Onion pursues a plan to temporarily take over InfoWars’ intellectual property and transform the conspiracy‑focused outlet into a parody site. Under the proposal, The Onion would receive a short‑term license to use InfoWars‘ trademarks and digital platforms while a state receiver in Texas continues the process of liquidating Jones’ assets.
The plan was thrown into uncertainty this week when the Texas Third Court of Appeals granted an emergency request by Jones’ lawyers, temporarily blocking the transfer of any assets. A hearing on the matter was reduced to a status conference, and a judge set a new court date this month to revisit whether the deal can proceed.
Jones touted his victory in the last episode of InfoWars, proclaiming: “I’m ready to die for this.”
“You think taking money from me does something? It makes me want to strangle you spiritually. It’s a joke. It, like, empowers me,” he said.
He went on to add that The Onion had “walked into our trap.”
“We don’t start fights, but we finish them,” he said. “If God stands with us, who can stand against us? And that’s how I close out.”
He ended with a toast among his staff.
The Onion CEO Ben Collins criticized the pause as another delay in efforts to compensate Sandy Hook families, accusing Jones of using repeated legal maneuvers to stall the liquidation process. The satirical outlet has argued that its takeover would parody the InfoWars brand and generate revenue for victims’ families through merchandise and digital operations, ABC News reported.
The legal fight is the latest chapter in the fallout from Sandy Hook‑related lawsuits, which found Jones and his company liable for repeatedly promoting false claims that the 2012 massacre was staged. Families of victims testified that those claims led to years of harassment and threats, resulting in landmark damages awards against Jones and his business entities.
While courts determine whether The Onion will gain control of InfoWars, Jones has said he is preparing alternative studios and platforms and insists he will continue broadcasting under a different banner. For now, however, InfoWars is offline, its future tied to a courtroom struggle that blends satire, conspiracy culture and one of the most consequential defamation cases in U.S. history.
Read the full article here
