The Onion Launches Infowars Parody Amid Acquisition Battle

The Onion is launching a scathing parody of Alex Jones' Infowars while its legal fight to acquire the conspiracy platform continues, with part of the proceeds going to families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The families have yet to receive any of the more than $1 billion Jones was ordered to pay for falsely claiming the massacre was a hoax. The Onion plans to send them its first $100,000 from merchandise sales featuring a mash-up of the Infowars name and The Onion's rainbow-colored logo.

"Don't give comedy writers a grudge for 18 months," Onion CEO Ben Collins said, explaining the project after more than a year of trying to buy Infowars.

The new parody will mimic Jones' signature style, lampooning his mix of conspiracy theories, junk science, attacks on tragedy victims, and sales pitches for survival gear and supplements.

Jones falsely claimed the Sandy Hook shooting, which killed 20 children and six educators, was staged, prompting years of harassment and death threats against grieving families from his followers.

At its peak, Infowars attracted around 10 million monthly visitors and generated more than $50 million a year. But $1.4 billion in defamation judgments forced Jones into bankruptcy.

"All he's been left with is an iPhone and a fancy microphone," said Chris Mattei, an attorney representing several Sandy Hook families. Jones now broadcasts from a different website and has yet to pay the judgments.

"The families know they can't silence Alex Jones," Mattei said. "But every dime he makes from here until the end of eternity is going to be claimed by the families."

The parody will feature fake products including a "penis flattening device," a bogus "pro oxygen" pill supposedly replacing the need to breathe, and an investigation into how many Bozo the Clowns actually exist.

"It's old-fashioned Infowars," Collins said. "Using the same tricks they use to keep people addicted to outrage."

The Onion is still seeking ownership of Jones' Austin studio. Collins said Sandy Hook father Robbie Parker hopes to one day read his book about losing his daughter and confronting Jones from the very studio where Infowars was broadcast.

While the families once wanted Infowars shut down entirely, Mattei said they've embraced the idea of turning it into something positive.

"The idea that it could be turned to some social good," he said. "I think it's even better."