Onion's Infowars 'Grudge' Being Turned Into Comedy

The satirical news site the Onion isn't waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones' conspiracy platform. More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, the Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the AP reports. The families have still received no money from Jones since courts ordered him to pay more than $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 shooting a hoax.

The Onion will start by sending the families $100,000 from merchandise sales that combine the conspiracy empire's brand with the Onion's logo in rainbow colors, according to CEO Ben Collins, whose company is still in court trying to take control of Infowars. "Don't give comedy writers a grudge for 18 months," he said. The parody will include a series of shows and other content under Infowars branding that spoof Jones' aggressive mashup of conspiracies linking major news events, dubious scientific claims, attacks on people suffering in tragedies and sales of supplements and survival gear.

Collins spoke to Sandy Hook families, who said they were briefly skeptical, but then saw how the Onion's staff could use the Infowars style and branding to take the moral high ground and make fun of the people who not only caused them so much pain but they felt also poisoned society. Collins didn't want to give away too much of the new stuff before it goes live Thursday. But the new Infowars will maintain the Onion's sharp satire sprinkled with shock value. Collins said there will be a section selling a penis flattening device, a fake "pro oxygen" supplement pill that the host claims can replace breathing, as well as an extended debate on how many Bozo the Clowns there are.