'Karmic justice' for Sandy Hook families as The Onion buys conspiracy theorist’s Infowars

The ultra-right wing media platform Infowars, run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones who caused the Sandy Hook families untold harm by claiming the shootings were a hoax, has been snapped up by the satirical website, The Onion. Or has it?

The Onion, which sends up political and celebrity news, was declared the winning bidder in an act of “karmic justice” as Everytown for Gun Safety’s president, John Feinblatt told CNN.

But now a federal bankruptcy judge is questioning the legitimacy of The Onion’s bid after Jones and his lawyers complained about how the auction was conducted, AP reports.

In order to make the bid work, a lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families told CNN that they had “agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of the Onion’s bid, enabling its success.”

“After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’s hollow offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families in Associated Press.

This was reportedly due to concerns that if Jones remained on air, he would be able to target other innocent people in the same horrific manner.

Twenty first-graders and six teachers were killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings back in 2012, in Newtown Connecticut.

Jones falsely claimed on his Infowars website that the shooting was a hoax and had been play-acted in a government plot to crack down on guns.

The families of the victims were relentlessly tormented and threatened by Jones’ followers as they were grieving their loved ones and finally took Jones to court for defamation.

Jones’ declared bankruptcy in 2022 in response to a court order to pay the families of the victims $1.5 billion and liquidate his assets to do so.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen but I’m going to be here until they come and turn the lights off,” Jones said after the auction in a social media video, calling it a “total attack on free speech.”

Everytown For Gun Safety’s president, John Feinblatt told CNN, “We all know that Alex Jones visited unspeakable harm on the Sandy Hook families and from our point of view if we could give them one ounce of satisfaction, one ounce of restitution, this was worth it to us.”

Meanwhile The Onion CEO, Ben Collins has made it clear that the only way to combat the fact-averse universe of Alex Jones is with humor.

Photo: screenshot from AP

“It’s a big cosmic joke on Alex Jones. Hopefully if you’re a Sandy Hook family, there’s a bit of cosmic justice happening here,” he told CNN.

“Our goal in a couple of years is for people to think of Infowars as the funniest and dumbest website that exists,” Collins told The Associated Press. “It was previously the dumbest website that exists.”

Photo: screenshot from CNN

Now it remains to be seen if the auction is ratified. It is normal to have a court hearing after a bankruptcy auction to finalize the winning bids, and to hear any objections, according to AP.

As far as The Onion is concerned, “The sale is currently underway as part of the standard processes,” as Collins wrote in a statement to The Washington Post.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.