The Onion’s Latest Joke: Taking Over Infowars

From The New York Times, I'm Rachel. Abrams and this is The Daily. >> This is not a joke. The satirical outlet. The Onion is set to take over InfoWars, the site that is run by notorious. conspiracy [music] theorist Alex Jones. Yes, you heard that correctly. >> Last Thursday, The Onion launched its. own version of InfoWars, [music]. the infamous online hub of. misinformation created by Alex Jones. The takeover has been years in the.

making. >> American conspiracy theorist and. internet broadcaster Alex Jones has been. ordered to pay Sandy Hook families more. than one and a half billion dollars. >> because he perpetrated for years the lie. that this [music] shooting was a hoax, that the people were actors. >> After losing two defamation cases, Jones. was ordered to pay more than a billion. dollars to the families [music] affected. by the Sandy Hook school shooting. >> Breaking news tonight, Alex Jones has. just moved to liquidate his personal. assets to pay the families [music] of.

the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre. >> Unable to pay, Jones' assets, including. InfoWars, >> [music]. >> were put up for auction. >> He's no longer going to own InfoWars, which is this conspiracy empire he's. really used to poison the public. discourse. >> [music]. >> And then, in a surprise twist, >> The Onion, the satirical news outlet, has won a bankruptcy auction [music] to. take control of InfoWars. >> The Onion stepped in. They announced plans to convert InfoWars. into a parody of itself and committed to. sharing proceeds from the new venture.

with the Sandy Hook families. >> Hi everybody, it's Tim Heidecker here. I'm broadcasting now live. Thank you for. joining me. We have major, major. announcements to go through here. >> Now, [music] after nearly two years, The. Onion's parody of InfoWars is live. >> Make no mistake, we will be the new. InfoWars. >> [music]. >> Today, we speak with Onion CEO Ben. Collins and comedian Tim Heidecker about. what they plan to do with InfoWars and.

why [music] they fought so hard to take. control of it. It's Tuesday, July 7th. [music]. Hi Ben. >> Hey, how's it going? >> Abrams, nice to meet you. >> you, too. >> Thanks for being here. >> Thanks for doing this at all. >> Yes, I'm early last week. I sat down. with Ben Collins, the CEO of The Onion. >> I got to practice my daily Hmm. Hmm. >> [laughter]. >> And actor and comedian Tim Heidecker.

Tim, am I allowed to ask you to just. give me your Alex Jones impression? >> Yeah. I'm like a trained seal now. >> [laughter]. >> We we knew that was the case and frankly. that's what that's why we're that's why. we're talking about it, you know. >> [laughter]. >> Collins and Heidecker were preparing for. The Onion's imminent relaunch of. InfoWars. The Onion has been around for almost 40. years and became infamous for skewering. everything from American politics to pop. culture. >> You know, in a lot of cases people need. catharsis. Just like give people a. Oh, you're not nuts. This feeling of.

like you're just not insane. The that's going on is insane, but. you're not nuts. >> Collins, who became CEO in 2024 after a. decade as a reporter, has revitalized. The Onion in a short amount of time. >> And we've leaned into that as hard as we. can. It's why we're the I think fifth. biggest newspaper in the United States. now. >> I started my conversation with Ben and. Tim by asking why they decided to remake. InfoWars. >> You know, I used to be a reporter and I. was covering stupid stuff on the. internet when I was a little wee baby. reporter guy at The Daily Beast. Now,

11 years ago. And uh my friend's girlfriend was shot. and killed on live TV on Facebook, actually. She was the first person. killed by a guy wearing a GoPro. It was brutal. It was just really bad. and then like when you Googled my. friend's name, the thing that would come. up was. that he's wasn't real or didn't exist. and all this stuff. Like there was the. internet had just started to show the. cracks of where we were headed. So I started covering that for a living. You know, I wound up covering Alex. Jones' trial on NBC News. And I remember. sitting there. when the judgment came down.

It became clear that he was going to. have to owe these people a billion. dollars. And. he said, "I'm not paying any of this. You guys know you're not going to. receive a penny of this.". And I was like, "No, dude, I think you got to pay. money.". >> Even after I got this gig, I didn't. quite know about all the details and. there's a great documentary about it, The Truth vs. Alex Jones. And I sat. there, watched that, and just my blood. boiled. I couldn't believe what he had. subjected to those poor people to. >> Which we know, of course, he not only.

accused the Sandy Hook shooting of being. fake, he accused the parents of being. actors. His listeners harassed them, some of them had to move. Alex Jones, as. we know, was ordered to pay more than. 1.4 billion dollars in damages. His assets go to bankruptcy because he. does not have that money. Can you just. Ben, tell us what happens after that. vis-à-vis your interest in The Onion? >> Sure. We saw it was for sale. InfoWars. on like Blue Sky, there was somebody who. clipped out a newspaper ad because you. have to advertise.

bankruptcy auction, which sounds weird. But it said like, you know, get Alex. Jones' armored truck or whatever. So, I. I started making some phone calls and I. was like, "Does this mean InfoWars is. for sale?" And they were like, "Yeah, it. does. You get the IP if you want to.". And I started to figure out what to do. cuz I had obviously never purchased. something at a bankruptcy auction. So, I. had to like learn some stuff and we're. like, "Okay, well, we can look at this. and I think we can pull this off." So, we get excited to bid on this thing and. the bidding is on, I think, November. 14th of 2024. And what happens on.

November 5th of 2024 is Donald Trump is. elected president of the United States. So, people are wondering like, should we. do this? Is this a safe thing to do? Dan. Bongino, who became the deputy director. of the FBI, got his start in InfoWars. There were so many people tied up in. those worlds. So, people were spooked and uh we just. had to make a decision. And I just. realized that I can't imagine other. people had the gumption or just like. time in their lives. to take on Alex Jones's harassment. campaign.

So, I was like, "Okay, you know, I'm a. man of my word. We're going to go. through with this." And we put down our. bid. And um. and then we won. And then Alex. absolutely lost his mind. I remember him. calling Steve Bannon on air and being. like Steve Bannon being like, "What the. is going on?" Like on the. [laughter] phone on air on Infowars. Uh as it was like he was panicking. The. funniest part is he had never heard of. The Onion until we bought it. >> You're kidding. He said that? >> Well, you could tell. Like he was like. the this newspaper, The Onion. And uh he just never heard of it.

>> Just to clarify here. So, basically, the. point of the bankruptcy is that whatever. gets sold, everything's supposed to go. to the families that got that judgment, right? So, at this point when you were. trying to purchase his assets, his. company, was the idea to take it over. and give money to the families in some. way? >> Yeah, that was the immediate argument. when I presented to my team. I was like, "You know, we could spend $2 million on. Facebook ads and make $2.1 million in. Onion merch or something. Or we can do. this really good thing and hope people. come along for the ride.".

And that's what we decided to do. And we. Look, we uh. I have no idea if I would do it again, but I think I would because it's been. this gigantic pain in the ass in my life. and it's been very scary and we've had. the dogs called on us from him and all. of his weird psycho. >> Alex Jones has has come after both of. you personally, I believe. >> Oh, yeah. >> Oh, in the best possible way. I mean, >> [laughter]. >> I find it incredibly amusing for the. most part because he's discovered my. body of work. Like you said, he didn't. know The Onion and then he found Tim and. Eric's stuff from 15 years ago. And you.

know, if you haven't seen some of that, it it is pretty out there. It's pretty. weird, but it's all coming from a place. of absurdity and a place of silliness, but he took it all out of context and. basically thought that we were some kind. of deep demons from from hell. >> Yeah. So, you make a bid for the Onion. It goes through some legal wrangling in. the courts. Now, you have, I believe, celebrated the takeover. I know that you. guys are treating it like a fait. accompli. You're about to launch. But. what is the current status, just to be.

clear? Like, you have not officially. taken over in the in the sense like you. can't go into Alex Jones's studio right. now in Austin. >> and like start broadcasting from there. >> Yeah. So, uh last August, there was an. emergency stay put in place where it. says like uh the receiver cannot sell. these assets until we rule on this. The. receiver is the guy in charge of. dispensing all of these assets. And then Alex Jones said that he was. going to shut everything down. Alex. Jones's goal, by the way, is to render these assets valueless so.

he can buy them back for pennies. I. don't accept that because that means. these families will never get anything. >> Mhm. >> So, we went to this receiver and we. said, "We'll lease. all of this stuff from you. I know you. can't sell it, but it doesn't say. anything about this." And the receiver. was like, "Yeah, I guess that's a good. point. My goal is to keep the value of. the assets up, make the families happy. And so, we're moving this forward. And. part of why we're trying to do this is. to keep the value of this asset alive. By making fun of this thing, we're. reminding people like, "Hey, it has. value. >> Yeah. >> on the planet Earth." And it has value. to us. And, you know, we would love to.

take this over and give these families. They haven't received a penny from this. guy. And it's been 4 and 1/2 years since. the judgment and 10 years since they. sued him. So, they need this cash and we would. love to get them some. >> How did the families react when you. first told them that you wanted to take. this horrific tragedy and make it into a. comedy website? >> The first call was was weird because I. was like, "I work at The Onion. I used. to cover this stuff." So, a couple of. these families knew who I was. And uh they were like, "Let me think.

about it.". And then they came back and they were. like, "Now that I thought about it, I. kind of I see the vision, you know?" Cuz. their goal has always been, you know, make it so he can't do this to any other. family ever again. >> Yeah. >> This like double whammy of American life. that is you just lost your kids in a. tragedy and now I might tell everybody. they never really lived or they're. they're still alive and they graduated. from high school. That's the thing that. these people say now. And. I. the strength of these families is. absurd. Like you've met these people.

>> Mhm. >> They are the strongest people I think. I've ever met in my entire life. And. then we had this like really beautiful. phone call with them maybe a month ago. where The two of you? Um it was us and. the Onion writing staff. >> Yeah, but everybody, yeah. >> And then I think like six or seven of. the families. >> Mhm. >> And um. I don't know. Bunch of people left. overtly crying in the office. It was weird to go into a thing where we. thought we were going to say, "Thank you. for letting us do this." And they were. like, "No, no, no, no, I don't think you. understand. Thank you for doing this.".

>> But I want to go back to this idea that. one of the reasons the family supported. you and one of your goals is to neuter. Alex Jones because Alex Jones, he might. not have InfoWars, but he is up and. running on the platform Rumble. He is. doing his thing. He still has people. that are watching him. It is nowhere. near the millions of people he had on. YouTube before he was kicked off of. YouTube, but nevertheless, he is. starting to do the same thing he's done. before, right? And we don't know how big. he's going to be. So I just sort of. wonder like if he's already out there. like still doing his thing, like what. how will you determine whether this. effort is successful?

>> That's a good question. I mean, I had. tuned in the other day just because I. hadn't done the impression in a while. and I wanted to listen to his voice and. I literally opened it up and he was. talking about Charlie Kirk faking his. own death. And you know, I was like. right as and we're doing a little bit of. a similar take on that on our parody of. it. I mean, he is extremely diminished from. where he was six years ago, 10 years. ago. >> It has like 6,000 views per stream. Like. this is not. >> It's small. >> It's small. It's a small audience. And I.

agree with you that he can build it back. up, but that's that's America. >> We should also note that the core of. Alex Jones is a pills selling machine. It is. >> Well, just to just to be really clear. about what you mean here is that he has. a part of his business where he sells. products to people and in some cases. those products are to solve issues that. he brings up on his show that might not. be actual evidence-based issues or. >> war is imminent, therefore buy my. iodine. >> Stuff like that, right? I also just have. to point out, did you guys see, I think. it was New York magazine, but I can't. remember. Somebody years ago did a quiz.

Is this product from Alex Jones or is. this product from Gwyneth Paltrow? >> Right, sure. >> was very hard to tell the difference. So, I don't want to make it seem like. it's singular to Alex Jones. >> No, no, but. I mean, she's not advocating for the. harassment of parents. >> that's the difference. Is you can do. whatever you want to sell products. Once. you start selling products on. as a direct response immediately after a. mass shooting and start demeaning the. people who are victims of that mass. shooting. That's to me, I don't know if I'm crazy. here, is a step too far.

>> The two of you have done a very good job. of articulating, I think, what you think. the core of Alex Jones' product empire. and also website is. You've also. explained a lot about the onion and what. sort of makes the onion the onion. Can. you help me understand, how does. InfoWars fit into the core DNA of the. onion? >> So, the onion, in my opinion, has always. been the best at going after the. dominant mode of media at the time. We. always go after the way people actually. get their information. >> [music].

>> And this was a. you know, a shot across the bow. It's a. little bit bigger than what we usually. do in the sense that we're directly. going after the information war people. who are trying to make you feel bad. about everything you do so you can buy a. supplement. But that's how everything. operates. You see like, you know, RFK. who is carrying around sauerkraut and. talking about peptides and all these. other things like the current de jure. >> [clears throat]. >> addiction of people who subscribe to. things on the internet. So, like to me it was an obvious. opportunity to take this model that was.

like really. not invented but perfected by Alex Jones. and say. we'll just lay it all bare. >> After the break, [music] we talk about. what it is like to make comedy in this. political environment. We'll be right back. [music].

>> [music]. >> I want to talk about comedy, not just. InfoWars comedy, but just sort of more. broadly comedy in the Trump. administration. A lot of comedians have said, and I've. heard you guys discuss this, that satire. is really hard in the Trump. administration, which is I've never. quite understood exactly why, and I I. feel like it's not the perspective that. you guys have taken. And so, I wonder if. Tim, you can explain what you think the.

opportunity is for comedy that other. comedians who say that are missing. >> Sure. I mean. you try to get to very universal, you. know, human feelings. I'm not trying to. just go like haha, look at Trump's. orange complexion. I want to get into. like what is it about being a human. being that gets you to the place where. you're doing that to yourself. And I want to try to do that in a. entertaining or funny way. I think it's. also okay to at this moment in time,

it's enough to just go like whatever the. debacle is this week, whatever the. insanity is, I think it's enough right now you can. just go. I think that's crazy. And if you can try. to do it in a funny, witty way, at least people out there looking for. signals that they're not alone can get. something. They can get like, "Okay, I'm. not crazy. That's crazy.". >> I want to ask you guys though, like the.

way you are describing what you're doing. does not sound ideological, but just to. push back a little bit like I went to. the Onion website earlier today and. there's like a zillion headlines about. Trump and RFK Jr., Ken Paxton, um. >> Yeah. >> and I I'm yeah, somebody who's read the. Onion. I know that you made fun of. Biden. I know that you make fun of. Democrats. I get that. But there's. something called the Babylon Bee, which. for people that don't know is. >> Oh, yeah. >> is it is described. >> stuff. >> It is described as like the Onion for. conservatives. Basically the implication.

being that you guys have a liberal. ideological bent, right? And I think. that certainly in this moment you could. get that impression looking at the Onion. website. I want to understand like how. broad are you trying to appeal in terms. of an audience? >> I would just say that I don't think. about an audience often. I just try to. express what's inside of me out into the. world and I it will be ideological a lot. of the time because I have a point of. view. But I will say InfoWars isn't.

going to be overtly political. necessarily and maybe not really at all. I mean, we're making fun of food. influencers and we'll be making fun of. people that certainly voted for, you. know, Mondani in New York, you know, >> [clears throat]. >> and are friends of mine. Like you got. to, of course, look at the world around. you and see things that you kind of. cringe at even though you might. ideologically align with them and we're. not going to be afraid to do that. But. we're not interested in punching down. We're not looking at making fun of.

swaths of people because we're. essentially scared of them. >> Yeah. The most recent takedown request. we got from a politician was from a very. prominent Democrat. You know, that's we. we really do hammer all sides. The. Democratic Party is really upset at us. cuz they think that we sank Joe Biden's. 2024 campaign. >> Because you didn't cheer him on, is that. the idea? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And I'm not going to ever step in on. that sort of thing, ever. >> I wonder if you guys succeed, if the. website takes off, besides the financial. benefit of succeeding, whatever that.

looks like, whatever your metrics are, just what do you think you will have. accomplished besides sidelining Alex. Jones, besides making him less offensive. or powerful? >> I mean, creating another place for. quality art and media to exist that is. pretty damn independent. I mean, this is. one of the few bastions of not this. monopolized super companies that we're. having to live with. So, what we hope to. have accomplished in let's say 5 years.

is we've retrained people's brains to. think of InfoWars meaning something. fundamentally different. And separated from that ghoul. If he wants to tell people about Charlie. Kirk faking his own death or something, he's free to do it on the side of the. highway. >> You know, everything about InfoWars is. horrible except the branding and the. catchphrase they came up with. And their catchphrase is there's a war. on for your mind, which is just a. perfect It's a beautiful sentence, right? And that will remain a thing that.

we do, basically like a mission. statement or a. you know, something to point at where. there has been a war on for your mind. for the last 10 years. There's no. question about that. Like we have lived. through that and I would say normal. people have lost. In part because they didn't know they. were going to fight. And we're going to give people the. ability to make fun of the processes and. the ways people get information. That's. going to be the through line that gets. us through this. And like characters and. ideas and things we're going to build. out of that. We are constantly being. inundated.

>> Mhm. >> with a bunch of insane garbage and. frankly. And that had. no counterweight and we're going to try. to do that. >> mean, yeah, I think that sorry to. interrupt you, but I've been thinking. over the years a lot about darkness and. comedy and death and comedy and it is a. way to like survive the chaos of the. world. On a very deep level, like the. comedians, the writers, whoever. creatives that go into those dark places. are doing it at a service for themselves.

to sort of exercise the fear of these. real things. And then that gets received. by an audience and I think it does a. service to make them feel like, "Okay, this is something that happens and we. have to laugh about it.". There's obviously lots of things we. could do about it, but. it's just like making you feel like. all this crazy is hanging over our. heads, but we shouldn't be afraid of it all the. time.

>> Ben, Tim, thank you both so much for. joining us. >> Hey, thank you. I really appreciate it. >> After we spoke to Ben and Tim, >> [music]. >> we reached out to representatives for. Alex Jones to ask for comment about The. Onion's takeover of InfoWars, but they did not respond. >> [music].

>> We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. Calls mounted on Monday for the. resignation of Graham Plathner, [music]. the Democratic nominee for Senate in. Maine, after a former girlfriend accused. him of rape. In an interview with Politico, >> [music]. >> the former girlfriend, Jenny Rassicot, described an incident during which. Plathner let himself into her home and.

forced himself on her, despite her. [music] repeated pleas for him to stop. In a social media post, >> [music]. >> Platner denied the allegations and said. he would take time to quote reflect on. [music] the path forward. Both parties see Maine as a battle in. the midterms and a deciding race over. who will control the Senate. Prominent Democrats withdrew their. endorsements of Platner after [music]. the allegations surfaced on Monday, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Ro Khanna and Senator.

Ruben Gallego. The Senate Democratic Campaign Arm, which had opposed Platner in the. primary, [music]. also called for him to quit and pledged. withhold financial support from his. campaign if he remained in the race. [music]. Today's episode was produced [music] by. Caitlin O'Keefe and Chris Benderav. It was edited by Mark George with help. from Ben Calhoun, Michael Benoit and. [music] Paige Cowett and contains music. by Pat McCusker, Alicia Bateyub and.

Marion Lozano. >> [music]. >> Our theme music is by Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Alyssa. Moxley. >> [music]. >> That's it for The Daily. I'm Rachel. Abrams. See you tomorrow. [music].