Court Pauses The Onion's Infowars Takeover
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- Texas Third Court of Appeals approved Alex Jones's appeal late Wednesday, staying the turnover order that would have transferred Infowars to The Onion; a Thursday hearing on approving the deal was halted in favor of a new hearing set for May 28.
- The Onion had reached a takeover agreement last week that would have given it temporary authority over Infowars and use of its trademarks, and has already sold spoof merchandise like T-shirts and tote bags using the Infowars logo.
- Infowars faces liquidation from a state receiver due to more than $1 billion in defamation judgments Jones owes to families of the 20 children and 6 staff members killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which Jones claimed was a hoax.
- The Supreme Court declined to take up Jones's appeal of the defamation judgments, leaving the $1 billion-plus liability intact while lawyers for the Sandy Hook families asked the Texas Supreme Court to overturn Wednesday's appellate ruling.
- Onion CEO Ben Collins called the appeals court stay "newly insane, unprecedented" and pledged to keep fighting for Sandy Hook families who "haven't seen a penny from Alex Jones," expecting "new traps" from Jones's legal team.
- Alex Jones used Infowars' final broadcast Thursday to vow a return with a "new network," threaten to "sue your a‑‑ back," declare "the real war begins now, it's the nuclear age," and toast as Frank Sinatra's "Blue Eyes" played during the sign-off.
Why it matters: Sandy Hook families, owed over $1 billion in defamation judgments, remain unpaid as the appellate pause delays any liquidation of Infowars assets; The Onion, which had already begun selling parody Infowars merchandise, now waits for a May 28 hearing to determine if its acquisition survives Jones's legal challenge.
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