The Onion eyes Infowars again with Tim Heidecker at the helm

The Onion has a new bid to take over Infowars, the platform founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who filed for bankruptcy after owing more than a billion dollars in damages to Sandy Hook families. 

The Onion’s latest plan to rework the site involves tapping in comedian Tim Heidecker.

Alex Jones Infowars bankruptcy

The backstory:

Jones’ company is facing liquidation because of the more than $1 billion in defamation judgments he owes relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting for calling the massacre in Connecticut a hoax staged by "crisis actors" in an effort to increase gun control. 

He filed for bankruptcy in 2022.

Dig deeper:

The Onion has tried to take over the platform before during the bankruptcy proceedings. 

An auction was held in November 2024 to liquidate Infowars’ assets to help pay the defamation judgments, and The Onion was named the winning bidder. But the bankruptcy judge threw out the auction results, citing problems with the process and The Onion’s bid.

READ MORE: Alex Jones retains Infowars for now after judge denies The Onion's winning auction bid

Tim Heidecker involved

Big picture view:

The new plan involves Tim Heidecker, a comedian, writer and producer, who is known for his work on the Cartoon Network’s "Adult Swim" shows. 

IndieWire reports Heidecker will be tapped as Infowars’ new creative director. 

What they're saying:

Heidecker shared his involvement on social media this week, saying it’s "looking very likely" that Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, would be taking control of Infowars in the coming days. 

"I am taking the helm of this classic American institution and want to know what you fine folks would like to see from us," he captioned the video, sharing some ideas of how they may relaunch the site

"We were playing around with it being a real estate broker service or a cryptocurrency exchange market, or a place to store pictures, almost like a Dropbox account - note sure. A lot of ideas," he said.

Global Tetrahedron deal

Dig deeper:

Under a proposal submitted Monday to a state judge in Texas, The Onion would be granted an exclusive, temporary license to the intellectual property of Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, allowing the outlet to put its own content on the Infowars website and social media accounts.

By the numbers:

The New York Times reported Global Tetrahedron would pay $81,000 a month to license Infowars.com, which would also include covering rent for the building housing Infowars’ studios and other operational costs, according to The Associated Press.

Timeline:

Ben Collins, chief executive of The Onion, said the deal could be in place around April 30, if approved by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin.

And it would last initially for six months, with the right to renew it for another six months. 

What they're saying:

"We’ll build this into a bigger comedy network," Collins said in a phone interview with The Associated Press Monday, adding the Sandy Hook families would receive profits from the new operations.

‘Alex Jones Show’

The other side:

On his show Monday, Jones vowed to fight the licensing proposal in court but acknowledged he and his crew could be kicked out of the building at the end of the month. 

He said he would continue his shows in another studio he is preparing, and they would air on his personal X account and other new social media accounts and websites, as well as dozens of radio stations. 

What they're saying:

"I’m going to continue the exact same show," he said Monday. "It’ll just be called the ‘Alex Jones Show.’ So, it’s the same satellite, same system. It's a different news site and news studio. So I’m not going anywhere."

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