The Onion, a satirical news site, is launching a parody of Infowars, a conspiracy platform founded by Alex Jones. The parody will include a series of shows and content that spoof Jones’ aggressive mashup of conspiracies. The Onion will donate $100,000 from merchandise sales to the families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Background
Alex Jones has been ordered to pay over $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting a hoax. Despite this, Jones has managed to avoid paying the judgment so far. The Onion’s parody aims to take the moral high ground and make fun of Jones’ conspiracy theories.
The Onion’s CEO, Ben Collins, spoke to the Sandy Hook families, who were initially skeptical but eventually saw the potential for The Onion’s staff to use the Infowars style and branding to expose Jones’ false claims. Collins plans to keep chasing Jones’ property and thinks they will soon gain control of the Austin, Texas, studio Infowars once used.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
