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On Thursday, the internet exploded with news that the unfunny satirical site The Onion had purchased Infowars out of bankruptcy—with help from a few Sandy Hook family members. For Infowars supporters, who were hoping to secure the company and keep Alex Jones on the air, this was a devastating blow.
To make matters worse, The Onion is owned by left-wing radical and former NBC “disinformation” reporter Ben Collins—a man as humorless as they come—who has been running the once-funny Onion straight into the ground and would likely do the same to Infowars.
Satirical news publication The Onion has bought Infowars, the media organisation headed by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for an undisclosed price at a court-ordered auction.
The Onion said that the bid was secured with the backing of families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who won a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumours about the massacre.
A judge in Texas ordered the auction in September, and various groups – both Jones’s allies and detractors – had suggested they would bid for the company.
Jones founded Infowars in 1999. He has vowed to continue broadcasting using a different platform.
And just when you thought it was over, things got even more weird. A federal judge has just stepped in and stopped the sale of Infowars dead in its tracks.
This is INSANE… WTF?
Alex Jones says that The Onion did NOT buy InfoWars. It’s now been blocked by a court.
– The “auction” was apparently not public
– The “buyout” was not with real money… they told the court that the “money” used was Alex Jones’ future earnings, the money (over $1B) he owes. It was basically “credit.”
– The people who ran the auction did NOT tell the other bidders “credit” could be used.The auction was pretty much FAKE. They gave special treatment to the Democrats who wanted to buy out his assets… buy out with nonexistent money…. and without the other bidders knowing what’s going on.
Unreal. It’s now playing out in court.
This is INSANE… WTF?
Alex Jones says that The Onion did NOT buy InfoWars. It’s now been blocked by a court.
– The “auction” was apparently not public
– The “buyout” was not with real money… they told the court that the “money” used was Alex Jones’ future earnings, the money… pic.twitter.com/hWJ7oQBHyQ— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 15, 2024
Alex Jones was all over social media talking about the shakeup.
Breaking: Federal Judge Blocks Sale Of Infowars To The Onion! Judge orders evidentiary hearing to discover what really happened. pic.twitter.com/DS0f9vrl2G
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) November 15, 2024
Clearly, there’s more to this story than meets the eye, and the mainstream media was once again quick to jump the gun by announcing the sale.
[T]he judge in Jones’ bankruptcy case said Thursday that he had concerns about how the auction was conducted and ordered a hearing for next week after complaints by lawyers for Jones and a company affiliated with Jones that put in a $3.5 million bid.
At a court hearing Thursday afternoon in Houston, the trustee who oversaw the auction, Christopher Murray, acknowledged that The Onion did not have the highest bid but said it was a better deal overall because some of the Sandy Hook families agreed to forgo a portion of the sale proceeds to pay Jones’ other creditors. First United American Companies, a business affiliated with one of Jones’ product-selling websites, submitted the only other bid. The trustee said he could not put a dollar amount on The Onion’s bid.
Walter Cicack, an attorney for First United American Companies, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez that Murray changed the auction process only days before, deciding not to hold a round Wednesday where parties could outbid each other. Sealed bids were submitted last week, and the trustee chose only from those, Cicack said.
This was a lifeline tossed to Infowars, and now Alex Jones is banking on the entire sale being nullified. The AP story goes on:
Murray said he followed the judge’s auction rules laid out in a September order that made the overbidding round optional. But Lopez said he was surprised such a round of bidding was not held and that he had concerns about transparency.
“We’re all going to an evidentiary hearing and I’m going to figure out exactly what happened,” he said. “No one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction.”
An exact date of next week’s hearing was not immediately set.
After the hearing, Jones said on his show that he thought the auction was unfairly rigged and expressed optimism that the judge would nullify the sale. He has repeatedly told his listeners that if his supporters won the bidding, he could stay on the Infowars platforms but that he had set up a new studio, websites and social media accounts in case they were needed.
“This was a auction that didn’t happen, with a bid that was lower, with money that wasn’t real,” he said.
Could this mean Infowars crusaders still have a shot at winning the bid and keeping Alex on the show? Possibly. But one thing is certain: the left will never silence Alex Jones. In fact, he’s stronger than ever, with The Alex Jones Network thriving while left-wing outlets like The Onion flounder. Under Ben Collins’ “leadership,” the once-sharp and funny site has become a dreary, unfunny slog, with critics lining up to call it a total drag.
The comedy landscape has undergone seismic shifts since The Onion‘s inception as a Wisconsin-based print weekly in 1988. Once the vanguard of satirical news on the internet in the late Nineties, the publication fell on hard times in the 2010s when its owners attempted to create an entire media ecosystem in the style of Vice and BuzzFeed (not that those two digital upstarts fared much better). And now The Onion’s latest attempt at a Left-leaning revival — under new CEO Ben Collins, a former “disinformation” reporter with little in the way of a background in satire, and primary financial backer Jeff Lawson — appears to be yet another misaligned understanding of the modern media ecosystem.
Since Collins announced his leading role in the venture in late April — boldly promising to save remaining jobs, let writers “do whatever they want”, and share revenue when feasible — The Onion has exhibited a tilt towards more overtly partisan content. Letting the staff “do whatever they want” has resulted in ham-fisted articles such as “Columbia University Gives Students Option to Finish Classes From Prison” and “White Person Way Too Proud of Using WhatsApp”. This is a marked shift from the universal appeal of its earlier work to content that resonates not just primarily but exclusively with a Left-leaning audience — even when compared to its obvious Obama-era pivot toward an explicitly liberal bias.
Honestly, it actually is possible to be partisan and funny. Maybe Ben should give the writers at The Babylon Bee a call for some much-needed pointers. But here’s the real problem—for Ben and most liberals—and it’s the same reason they can’t meme: they have zero sense of humor. They’re always outraged, offended, and angsty. That constant misery doesn’t exactly foster creativity, humor, or the self-deprecation that makes life fun and funny.
For the so-called “party of joy,” lefties sure are the most miserable creatures lumbering around the planet.
In the end, let’s hope this “lifeline” for Infowars turns into something good for Jones and his supporters. But no matter what happens, Alex will keep soaring—and that’s the one thing that truly drives the left crazy.
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