• Cyber Cafe@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    On paper, I feel like onion acquiring infowars could have been kind of uninteresting, but the way it’s unfolding has me dying laughing. Tim Heidecker being involved, Alex still having access to the studio, shirtless, ranting and raving about how the left are body snatchers (as if he didn’t completely bring this on himself).

    It’s borderline adult swim absurdity. I love it

  • Sunflier@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    It is funny, but I’m going to wait on buying any InfoWars merch until the change in ownership has really sunk into the collective consciousness. InfoWars is just too culturally toxic atm, and I don’t want to carry anything around related to Alex Jones.

    • Saprophyte@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Pride colors with an onion in the middle.

      I’d say you’re safe, but… I had a woman yell at me for “pushing my agenda in her face in front of her child” while quietly reading on my phone eating at Panda Express with one of these color run t-shirts on.

      • tektite@slrpnk.net
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        5 hours ago

        Oh yeah? Well, that woman hasn’t gone running since 1977! And she uses [Brand] so her wash colors don’t run! How dare you put those sick ideas in her child’s mind! And in a Panda Express, no less. Pandas don’t run either! Is nowhere safe??

        • Saprophyte@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          I would never disrespect the panda. I was there to worship at the altar of orange chicken. It is a holy place for me.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 hours ago

      Yeah but limited edition… If they do succeed, and it does sink into the collective consciousness, then these items might end up being desirable. Could be cool to sport the og Onion Wars shirt years from now

  • Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca
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    18 hours ago

    I dunno, Alex Jones sharing old Adult Swim Tim Heidecker content like it’s real information is pretty damn funny.

  • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Last I heard they were still in the process. Has it been finalized yet?

    Edit- Awaiting the OK from Texas judges.

    It would cost the Onion $81k a month for the domain. The best part is that Jones is going through bankruptcy, having to sell off almost all of his belongings to compensate the families he harassed and slandered (libelled?)

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      both. libel is print, slander is speech, he did both. some jurisdictions have rolled both crimes into slander to stop confusing the public.

    • mkwt@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Apparently finalized a few days ago. But the news was published in The Onion, so you can be forgiven for thinking it might be satire.

      • THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Yeah, they’re posting it all over the place. I’ve seen other platforms also posting it everywhere.

        • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          the fact that onion is posting something all over the place does not mean anything, they seem to be taking it as seriously as all their other news

          this is the freshest info: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/business/infowars-alex-jones-the-onion.html

          they are waiting for a judge, they have a wish, but they own/rent/control anything at this time.

          “other platforms” reposting that does not mean anything. same as it did not mean anything when they posted the same false information 18 months ago:

          if anything, it is nice example of why we need professional media collecting and verifying news before releasing them and why random people shouting on social networks are not news

          • booly@sh.itjust.works
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            8 hours ago

            This is the best article I’ve found, and it’s more recent than the NYT article you’ve posted:

            https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/the-onions-infowars-takeover-follows-complicated-legal-journey

            I still find dedicated legal reporting to be better than general reporting. And this is a complicated history touching on a lot of different areas of the law.

            But the key fact here is that Alex Jones was allowed to keep control over the business assets while his appeals are pending, but has run out of money and cannot continue running his own business. At that point, the receiver overseeing things (where Alex Jones can run the business but can’t transfer assets out or pay anything not directly related to running the business) saw that things had changed enough that he needed to keep the business assets valuable, and that Alex Jones himself couldn’t.

            So this licensing deal is a way to keep the assets valuable: keep paying rent on the studio itself, keep all the broadcasting and recording equipment under one roof, keep all the unexpired contracts.

            If Alex Jones can’t come up with a plan to actually pay the rent and keep all the stuff, the court is basically going to have no choice but to agree that there’s no way to keep things as they are while the appeals wind through the system, and a temporary licensing agreement is the best option until the appeals go through.

            Most of the reporting doesn’t seem to appreciate that Jones’ prospects of blocking this in the courts is dependent on a practical hurdle, not just a legal one: he can’t afford to keep it. That’s what’s changed since December 2024 when The Onion’s first attempt to buy this stuff was blocked (by another federal bankruptcy court, with a different judge than this state court judge overseeing the receiver).

    • homes@piefed.world
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      1 day ago

      It would cost the Onion $81k a month for the domain

      all things considered, that could be renegotiated with the registrar now that Jones is no longer the owner. It’s no longer worth that as it’s not raking in Jones-level revenue. Sure, it’s still worth a lot, especially with The Onion owning it, but, still, not $81k/mo.

      • booly@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        The licensing deal is for more than just the domain. It’s like hundreds of squatter domains, too (including, hilariously, goblinlove dot com), and the trademarks.

        And the reason why it’s exactly that amount isn’t about the cost of the domain. It’s that the physical studio’s rent is about $75k/month, and they need to keep that lease active long enough to buy the whole shebang once Alex Jones’ appeals run out.

        • homes@piefed.world
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          7 hours ago

          So they would be in holding of the whole property… On the flipside, there’s so much crazy shit they can do with it, lol

      • rImITywR@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        That $81K/mo isn’t going to the registrar. Its going to the manager of Jone’s debt to be distributed to his creditors, including the families of Sandy Hook.

        • homes@piefed.world
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          1 day ago

          oh, my mistake

          The deal calls for The Onion to pay $81,000 a month to license the Infowars.com domain and brand name, which the receiver says will “cover carrying costs to preserve and protect the assets of the receivership estate” until an appeal filed by Jones is decided and the path is cleared for a sale.

          I see, so it’s temporary, although that appeal could take years

          • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            it is not temporary and it is not permanent. there isn’t ANYTHING yet. they have a wish they brought to a judge and now they wait for what the judge will decide. if the judge decides to their liking, then it will be temporary…

            • booly@sh.itjust.works
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              8 hours ago

              A very important point is that the judge can’t just reject the deal and let Alex Jones continue forward. The whole reason why the licensing deal is coming to fruition now (instead of in 2024 when he first lost control, or after all the appeals are exhausted) is because this middle ground became untenable: Alex Jones can’t afford the studio’s rent and the creditors are going to seize all the physical assets if they’re not being actively used to run a profitable business to preserve the status quo.

              If the status quo is no longer an option, the court will have to order that SOMEthing happen.

    • Ulvain@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      So they’re wearing shirts with which they self identify as low iq now? Are they getting self aware? Before ai? That’s a surprise…

      Or is it a black shirt with low iq, basically fully bringing out in the open the thinly veiled dog whistle of trump using the term whenever he’s talking about women of color?

      Yeah more that, i think

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        It’s a reference to trump calling Alex jones, Candace owens and some others “low IQ” in a recent social media rant. Thing is, no one is gonna know this and they’re just gonna wear a shirt that accidentally admits a harsh truth lol

      • Janx@piefed.social
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        20 hours ago

        Literally anything to “trigger the libs!” That’s the entire Republican party now. Oh, sure. There are a bunch of people at the top scamming and raking in piles of cash while believing none of it… But the rest are idiots and trolls. And they currently control our country…

  • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    onion may be making a merchandise, but they did not take over anything, so far… they have a plan to rent the domain for 6 months, it now depends on a texas judge… so far the infowars is still full of alex jones’ shit, as everyone can verify by typing that address into browser.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/business/infowars-alex-jones-the-onion.html

    it is fascinating how people are willing to shout nonsense that is not true, as long as they like the nonsense… cool (mis)info war 😂