The Onion Launches Infowars Parody Livestream

Launches Infowars Parody Livestream">

Far-right conspiracy peddler Alex Jones is still fighting tooth and nail in the courts to hang on to his Infowars media network. But that won’t stop The Onion —which has been seeking to acquire it out of bankruptcy—from weaponizing the toxic brand against him. The satirical outlet’s weekly Infowars parody livestream airs on Thursdays at 8 pm ET, starting tonight.

The show, simply called Infowars , will be available across a number of video platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram, under the handle @realinfowars. Tim Heidecker remains the creative director (and Jones impressionist) for the project, continuing in his mission to turn Infowars into a home for gonzo experimental comedy that lampoons internet culture and, of course, the fever dreams of America’s crazed political commentators. So what can viewers expect from The Onion’s spin on Infowars ?

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the first episode. A grisly death, for one thing. Jeff Lawson, owner of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, tells WIRED that it “may not be a surprise to say we kill off Alex Jones pretty quickly.” Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, offers more detail.

“In the first episode, Alex Jones is popped like a balloon,” he says. We see a “clear and convincing video that Alex Jones has exploded from eating too much Whataburger.” That bombshell derails Heidecker’s Infowars -style show, which is 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.

It did so with the support of families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, who had successfully sued Jones over his repeated lies about the massacre being staged and were awarded judgments totaling more than $1 billion, pushing Jones into financial ruin. But a federal judge stuck down that deal due to a technicality in the bidding process. In April, The Onion announced another deal to take control of Infowars ’ assets that would allow it to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees to the Sandy Hook families.

Jones filed an appeal; days later, a Texas appeals court paused the sale . While the acquisition is stuck in limbo, The Onion is moving forward with Infowars parody programming on its own channels. The ongoing battle for control of Infowars highlights the complexities of navigating toxic online brands and the limits of satire in tackling extremist ideologies.

The Onion's bold move to co-opt the Infowars brand could have significant implications for the media landscape, particularly in the realm of online comedy and satire. By subverting Jones' conspiracy-driven narrative, The Onion aims to undermine his influence while also providing a platform for creators to experiment with irreverent humor. However, questions remain about the long-term viability of this strategy, and whether it will ultimately help to mitigate the spread of misinformation.