When Infowars, the website founded by the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones, came up for sale two years ago, an unlikely suitor stepped up. The Onion, a satirical news outlet, planned to convert the site into a parody of itself.
That sale was scuttled by a bankruptcy court. Now, The Onion has re-emerged with a new plan: licensing the website from Gregory Milligan, the court-appointed manager of the site.
Technically not approved until the judge oks it?
On Monday, Mr. Milligan asked Maya Guerra Gamble, a judge in Texas’s Travis County District Court overseeing the disposition of Infowars, to approve that licensing agreement in a court filing. Under the terms, The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 a month to license Infowars.com and its associated intellectual property — such as its name — for an initial six months, with an option to renew for another six months.
The licensing deal has been agreed to by The Onion and the court-appointed administrator. But it is not effective until Judge Gamble approves it, and Mr. Jones could appeal any ruling. That means the fate of Infowars remains in limbo until the court rules, probably sometime in the next two weeks. Mr. Jones continues to operate Infowars.com and host its weekday program, “The Alex Jones Show.”
Tim Heidecker, one of the comedians behind “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, has been hired to serve as “creative director of Infowars.” He said he initially plans to parody Mr. Jones’s “whole modus operandi.”
The former, just felt out of touch and low level for him. I would say out of every episode, there was only about 2-5% that felt genuine and humorous to make up for the fact that the rest was...
The former, just felt out of touch and low level for him. I would say out of every episode, there was only about 2-5% that felt genuine and humorous to make up for the fact that the rest was rather flat and called in, out of date, no real inspiration or interest on his side, just too... lame? I get that everyone talks about how hilarious and wonderful he is, but I feel like if you removed the knowledge of the greatness that was Colbert Report, he wouldn't have lasted even a season. Nothing exactly redeemable from his stint in the seat, except for the reasoning on why he has been forced out (by an encroaching totalitarian government).
I always felt the same, but I always also just assumed this was him moving to his new, much older and more mainstream audience in the late night slot. If he had kept the wittier and more authentic...
I always felt the same, but I always also just assumed this was him moving to his new, much older and more mainstream audience in the late night slot.
If he had kept the wittier and more authentic stuff, it would have been a show much more like the Colbert Report or Conan's old Late show, and Conan's show IIRC had a much younger audience, but far less reach than the other tonight shows.
Feels too soon for The Onion to be popping champagne if this could fall through, and then they're on the hook for trademark infringement. I'm not a marketeer, but I'd at least wait until the URL...
Feels too soon for The Onion to be popping champagne if this could fall through, and then they're on the hook for trademark infringement. I'm not a marketeer, but I'd at least wait until the URL is pointed to the right place.
I always thought this was a joke from The Onion Movie. I had no idea it was the real parent company lol Apparently it actually comes from The Onion book "Our Dumb Century", which I also did not...
Under the terms, The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron,
I always thought this was a joke from The Onion Movie. I had no idea it was the real parent company lol
Apparently it actually comes from The Onion book "Our Dumb Century", which I also did not know existed
The InfoWars of old was only the prototype for the hell I know we can build together: A digital platform where, every day, visitors sacrifice themselves at altars of delusion and misery, their minds fully disintegrating on contact.
With this new InfoWars, we will democratize psychological torture, welcoming brutal and sadistic ideas from everyone, even the very stupidest among us. It will be like the Manhattan Project, only instead of a bomb, we will be building a website.
It seems like part of the profits that The Onion gets from this are going to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, and I don't think it is ever the wrong moment to punish Alex...
It seems like part of the profits that The Onion gets from this are going to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, and I don't think it is ever the wrong moment to punish Alex Jones for what he did to those families.
Yeah this whole thing is the Sandy Hook families deciding that they'd rather get less cash and have them be taken over entirely than operated (under similar leadership) and giving them more cash....
Yeah this whole thing is the Sandy Hook families deciding that they'd rather get less cash and have them be taken over entirely than operated (under similar leadership) and giving them more cash. Since, you know, they're sort of ethically opposed to what IW does.
For as long as the site remains up in its current abhorrent form, I don’t think anyone should be celebrating just yet. Would’ve expected better from a credible journalistic outlet like the onion… /s
For as long as the site remains up in its current abhorrent form, I don’t think anyone should be celebrating just yet. Would’ve expected better from a credible journalistic outlet like the onion…
/s
I love this for them, but it's way too early to get me to buy anything with the name "InfoWars" on it. Rainbow colors or otherwise. Gonna be a few years before the stank of far-right nutjobbery...
I love this for them, but it's way too early to get me to buy anything with the name "InfoWars" on it. Rainbow colors or otherwise. Gonna be a few years before the stank of far-right nutjobbery wears off.
I don't think I'll ever pay into InfoWars for any reason. I hope it dies, regardless of who owns it. And honestly, I'm pretty sure the guys behind The Onion want it dead too.
I don't think I'll ever pay into InfoWars for any reason. I hope it dies, regardless of who owns it. And honestly, I'm pretty sure the guys behind The Onion want it dead too.
They only want it alive in the sense that it better serves the families afaict. And since the other option is it being bought by basically a shell game of the same people (not literally Alex Jones...
They only want it alive in the sense that it better serves the families afaict. And since the other option is it being bought by basically a shell game of the same people (not literally Alex Jones but close enough) that run it now, then they'll do this and make it a joke forever.
Ben Collins (Onion CEO) posted this on Bluesky. https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3mjwx7iv5kk2m https://theonion.info/ The original infowars.com website still seems to be up for...
No one else is corroborating at this time, but Ben Collins (Onion CEO) posted this on Bluesky.
NYT gift link
Technically not approved until the judge oks it?
This was news to me:
If this goes through this will be one of the funniest things of all time, Tim is a master.
https://youtu.be/0gnnFVRlucg
Treading a path cleared by Stephen Colbert, I think Tim will be much drier and harder to tell whether serious or not.
At the very least he will more than likely humorous on his own, unlike Colbert which requires an entire writing team that still tends to fall flat.
You talking about the Late Show, or the Colbert Report, or both? The latter didn't seem to fall flat, to me.
The former, just felt out of touch and low level for him. I would say out of every episode, there was only about 2-5% that felt genuine and humorous to make up for the fact that the rest was rather flat and called in, out of date, no real inspiration or interest on his side, just too... lame? I get that everyone talks about how hilarious and wonderful he is, but I feel like if you removed the knowledge of the greatness that was Colbert Report, he wouldn't have lasted even a season. Nothing exactly redeemable from his stint in the seat, except for the reasoning on why he has been forced out (by an encroaching totalitarian government).
I always felt the same, but I always also just assumed this was him moving to his new, much older and more mainstream audience in the late night slot.
If he had kept the wittier and more authentic stuff, it would have been a show much more like the Colbert Report or Conan's old Late show, and Conan's show IIRC had a much younger audience, but far less reach than the other tonight shows.
Yeah, Colbert is still making Reagan, Churchill, and moon landing jokes. You can tell that the target demographic is definitely the olds.
I miss Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show.
Feels too soon for The Onion to be popping champagne if this could fall through, and then they're on the hook for trademark infringement. I'm not a marketeer, but I'd at least wait until the URL is pointed to the right place.
I can't find the details, but I am assuming they won the 'rights' and trademark to the name, not necessarily to the entire platform (yet).
It sounds like they're licensing it atm, or trying to.
But the merch might fall under parody if they fail.
I suspect that announcing it prior to the judge's decision puts a lot more eyes on that decision, which may be a deliberate choice here.
I always thought this was a joke from The Onion Movie. I had no idea it was the real parent company lol
Apparently it actually comes from The Onion book "Our Dumb Century", which I also did not know existed
Our Dumb Century is a masterpiece.
MAN WALKS ON FUCKING MOON
Global Tetrahedron was created a few years ago by Jeff Lawson and Tim Collins to purchase The Onion from its previous owner, G/O Media
Best line from the article:
Is it just me or has the moment of relevance passed here? The last six months makes Alex Jones troubles feel like a lifetime ago.
It seems like part of the profits that The Onion gets from this are going to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, and I don't think it is ever the wrong moment to punish Alex Jones for what he did to those families.
Yeah this whole thing is the Sandy Hook families deciding that they'd rather get less cash and have them be taken over entirely than operated (under similar leadership) and giving them more cash. Since, you know, they're sort of ethically opposed to what IW does.
The moment of relevance is ongoing while the families of the Sandy Hook shooting continue to be harassed by Alex Jones.
Well they tried before but the judge didn't like the deal and the Sandy Hook folks are still actively being harassed by Jones in the meantime.
For as long as the site remains up in its current abhorrent form, I don’t think anyone should be celebrating just yet. Would’ve expected better from a credible journalistic outlet like the onion…
/s
I love this for them, but it's way too early to get me to buy anything with the name "InfoWars" on it. Rainbow colors or otherwise. Gonna be a few years before the stank of far-right nutjobbery wears off.
I don't think I'll ever pay into InfoWars for any reason. I hope it dies, regardless of who owns it. And honestly, I'm pretty sure the guys behind The Onion want it dead too.
They only want it alive in the sense that it better serves the families afaict. And since the other option is it being bought by basically a shell game of the same people (not literally Alex Jones but close enough) that run it now, then they'll do this and make it a joke forever.
They should just put up a mesothelioma style lawyer ad providing legal contacts for people exposed to Alex Jones.
Infowars.com is currently offline, meanwhile official court transference is wrapped up in court stuff until at least the 28th.
https://apnews.com/article/onion-infowars-takeover-alex-jones-4971bd1a33c5a88857e073ee02fe5f8e
The first video is here, and it is as hilarious as we hoped:
https://youtu.be/Exu1SEZE9Ug
No one else is corroborating at this time, butBen Collins (Onion CEO) posted this on Bluesky.https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3mjwx7iv5kk2m
https://theonion.info/
The original infowars.com website still seems to be up for now.
Edit: DNAF has it covered
You can also buy an "Inf🧅 Wars" tote bag from their merch. They must feel confident about having the trademark
It's going to be fun to listen to Dan and Jordan of Knowledge Fight discuss Alex's reaction to this once Alex gets back in studio.