Onion CEO’s Big Plans for Alex Jones’ Infowars, Sandy Hook Families

The Onion has a new plan to take over Infowars — and the CEO of the satirical news site it goes well beyond owning Alex Jones.

“We have grand designs,” Ben Collins, CEO of the Onion, told Business Insider. He said they want to turn the conspiracy theory-fueled site created by Jones into a satire engine that goes after “the grievance culture that has completely subsumed our American way of life and our politics.”

The Onion said Monday that it struck a deal to license the Infowars name and website from Greg Mulligan, the court-appointed receiver who was tapped to help sell Infowars’ assets. Collins said he is confident a judge will approve the proposal, which is for six months with an option to renew for another six months. The long-term goal is to buy the site outright.

Collins, who worked for NBC News before The Onion, said taking over the site is largely about getting justice for Sandy Hook families who experienced “the double whammy of American life” : They lost their kids in a school shooting and then had people say it never happened or that their kids never existed.

Jones, one of the leading voices in the conspiracy theories about Sandy Hook, was found liable for defamation, ordered to pay the families over $1 billion, and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. The Sandy Hook families have not been paid, and Collins said he’s looking forward to getting them some of the money they are owed.

“When InfoWars finally goes dark, the machinery of lies that Jones built will become a force for social good, thanks to the families’ courage and The Onion’s vision, persistence and stewardship,” Chris Mattei, the lawyer who represented the families, said in a statement.

Representatives for Jones and Infowars did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Jones said in a video posted to X that his audience would hear about a new website soon and that the “REAL Infowars is set to close May 1st.”

The Onion first emerged as a buyer of Infowars in 2024 after an auction was held to sell its assets and pay the judgments against Jones; a judge thwarted the sale, citing process and transparency concerns.

Collins said in the 17 months since the sale was stopped, he remained motivated to find a way to get it. That only increased during Jones’ coverage of the death of Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis who was killed by an ICE agent, in January. Collins said seeing false claims about her shared on Infowars was “enough.”

“It wasn’t the original reason we did it, but it’s the reason I kept going at a time when it may not have been smart for me to do it,” he said.

The Onion has started producing content for its version of Infowars, including an eight-episode Tucker Carlson-style parody show, Collins said. A glimpse of what the new site would look like can be seen in a promo on The Onion’s website that blares “TURN YOUR PISS INTO GOLD.”

The Onion has brought on comedian Tim Heidecker as creative director. Heidecker, who is half of the Tim & Eric comedy duo, shared a video announcing the news in a voice that imitated Jones’ distinctive, gruff voice.

Collins said the new InfoWars won’t only poke fun at the far right. He sees it as an opportunity to go after all the “stupid” stuff on the internet and beyond — like influencers pushing beef tallow, van lifers who “shove 80 kids into the back of an RV and call it a house,” and AI guys who “have the very mind virus that they think everyone else has.”

“We want Infowars to be a place where you strive to be instead of a psychopathic website where they sell supplements for your broken penis,” Collins said.

In his view, there was only one good thing Jones did with Infowars: “It’s a great logo. It’s a great name for what’s going on, unfortunately.”