The Onion’s Infowars Parody Debuts, Alex Jones Will Hate It
▼ Summary
– The Onion is launching a weekly parody livestream called *Infowars* on Thursdays at 8 pm ET, hosted on platforms like Twitch and YouTube under the handle @realinfowars.
– In the first episode, Alex Jones is killed off, “popped like a balloon” from eating too much Whataburger, and the show follows characters trying to determine if he is dead or if a body double exists.
– The Onion first won a bankruptcy auction for Infowars in late 2024 with support from Sandy Hook families, but a federal judge struck down the deal due to a bidding technicality.
– In April, The Onion made another deal to acquire Infowars, paying licensing fees to Sandy Hook families; Jones appealed, and a Texas appeals court paused the sale.
– While the acquisition is in legal limbo, The Onion is moving forward with the parody programming on its own channels.
The far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones continues to fight in court to retain control of his Infowars media empire, but The Onion is not waiting for the legal dust to settle. The satirical outlet, which has been trying to acquire the network through bankruptcy proceedings, is already turning the toxic brand against him. Starting tonight, The Onion launches its weekly Infowars parody livestream, airing Thursdays at 8 pm ET.
The show, simply titled Infowars, will stream on platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram under the handle @realinfowars. Creative director Tim Heidecker,who also performs as a Jones impersonator,leads the project. His goal: transform Infowars into a space for gonzo experimental comedy that skewers internet culture and the wild fantasies of America’s most unhinged political commentators.
What can audiences expect from The Onion’s twisted take? A little preview, with spoilers for the debut episode, reveals a dramatic opening. Jeff Lawson, owner of The Onion’s parent company Global Tetrahedron, tells WIRED it “may not be a surprise to say we kill off Alex Jones pretty quickly.” Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, elaborates: “In the first episode, Alex Jones is popped like a balloon.” Viewers see “clear and convincing video that Alex Jones has exploded from eating too much Whataburger.” That bombshell derails Heidecker’s in-show Infowars-style program, called Emergency. “The rest of the episode is spent trying to figure out (A) if he’s still alive, even though he has exploded in his car, and (B) if he’s been dead for a long time before he exploded in his car, if there’s a body double that’s going around as him.”
The Onion first won a bankruptcy auction for Infowars in late 2024, backed by families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. Those families had secured more than $1 billion in judgments against Jones for his repeated lies that the 2012 massacre was staged, pushing him into financial ruin. However, a federal judge overturned that deal due to a technical flaw in the bidding process. In April, The Onion announced a new agreement to take control of Infowars’ assets, including paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees to the Sandy Hook families. Jones appealed, and days later, a Texas appeals court paused the sale.
While the acquisition remains in legal limbo, The Onion is forging ahead with its Infowars parody programming on its own channels,ensuring the brand’s legacy is twisted into comedy, not conspiracy.
(Source: Wired)