In an outcome beyond parody, a bankruptcy judge puts The Onion’s Infowars purchase on hold
When reality becomes stranger than satire, maybe the satirists can teach us something. Or, maybe the last laugh will be on them after all. The Onion said on Thursday that its parent company bought Infowars, the disgraced purveyor of Sandy Hook misinformation and vendor of pseudoscience supplements. The Onion posted on Bluesky that it plans to transform the rebooted Infowars into “a very funny, very stupid website.” However, the Texas judge overseeing the bankruptcy sale temporarily halted the takeover, citing concerns about the auction process. A review hearing will be scheduled for next week.
The Onion said it received the blessing of the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to scoop up Infowars in a bankruptcy auction. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit founded in the massacre’s aftermath, reportedly plans to advertise on the rebooted site if the sale is finalized.
Infowars founder Alex Jones was found liable in 2022 for nearly $1.5 billion in damages for spreading conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six adult staffers.
After The Onion’s triumphant announcement on Thursday, the AP reported that US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez called for an evidentiary hearing to review the auction that led to the takeover. Christopher Murray, the trustee overseeing the auction, reportedly said in court that The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, didn’t offer the highest bid in cash. However, the sale price included a clause where some Sandy Hook families would forego their portion of the proceeds to pay Jones’ other creditors. Murray said Global Tetrahedron’s bid was the best despite having a lower (undisclosed) cash amount due to that agreement.
Article