Alex Jones
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About
Alex Jones is an American talk show host of the syndicated radio program The Alex Jones Show and founder of libertarian news website Infowars. Online, Jones has earned a reputation as a vocal libertarian and right-wing conspiracy theorist after accusing the United States government of secret involvement in historical events and human-made disasters.
History
In the 1990s, Jones hosted the talk show The Final Edition on the radio station KJFK in Austin, Texas. In 1996, Jones launched the libertarian political news site Infowars.com,[1] which often features articles about conspiracy theories and government corruption.[3] In the 2001 drama film Waking Life, Jones appears as a rotoscoped animation ranting about the corporate control of government while driving a car with a public address system attached to the hood (shown below).
On February 11th, 2008, the Alex Jones YouTube[4] channel was launched, which gathered upwards of 557 million views and 1.1 million subscribers in the next eight years. On September 10th, 2009, the channel posted a video message from Charlie Sheen directed toward United States President Barack Obama regarding questions about the official account of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. In the next six years, the video gained over 3.9 million views and 60,300 comments. The video was removed after the channel was suspended by YouTube in July 2018.
On May 9th, 2013, the YouTube channel uploaded footage of a 12-year-old boy confronting a police officer for parking illegally on a sidewalk (shown below). Within three years, the video received upwards of 8.1 million views and 15,500 comments.
Social Media Presence
As of April 2017, Jones has over 1.5 million Facebook[5] likes and 607,000 followers on Twitter.[3]
2018 Bannings
On July 30th, 2018, the activist group Sleeping Giants tweeted[29] a call for Apple to cease hosting Infowars content on iTunes (shown below).
On August 5th, Apple removed all episodes from five Infowars podcasts from the iTunes directory, including War Room and Alex Jones Show. The following day, Facebook removed the "Alex Jones Channel," "Infowars Nightly News," "Alex Jones" and "Infowars" pages from the platform. In a press release, Facebook[28] revealed the pages had been removed for violating the site's "hate speech and bullying policies." Also on August 6th, YouTube removed the Infowars channel from the site. Shortly after, BuzzFeed reporter Charlie Warzel tweeted[30] a statement from YouTube regarding the channel's removal (shown below).
That day, Jones reacted to the bannings during an InfoWars livestream (shown below).
The Left Is Dancing On The Grave Of Infowars pic.twitter.com/g9d3Y1xVON
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) August 6, 2018
On August 6th, Philip DeFranco uploaded a video discussing the controversy, which gained upwards of 1.2 million views and 26,800 comments within 48 hours (shown below, left). Meanwhile, YouTuber Sargon of Akkad uploaded a video titled "First They Came For Alex Jones," which framed the banning of Jones as an attack on free speech (shown below, right).
That same day, The Young Turks released a video about the banning, in which host Ana Kasparian revealed that she "agreed with their reasons" for terminating Jones' accounts (shown below, left). Also on August 6th, Ben Shapiro released a video expressing concerns about tech companies censoring conservative users (shown below, right).
On August 8th, Salon[32] published an article titled "Meet Jared Holt, the guy who’s getting Alex Jones kicked off the internet," which claimed that Right Wing Watch writer Jared Holt "helped lead the pressure campaign" to remove Infowars content from various social media platforms.
Twitter's Response
On August 7th, Twitter[31] CEO Jack Dorsey posted a series of tweets explaining why the site did not suspend Jones or Infowars, claiming they had not violating Twitter's rules, adding that the company would not "succumb and simply react to outside pressure" (shown below).
Twitter Suspension
On August 14th, 2018, the @infowars Twitter feed posted screenshots sent to the @RealAlexJones account notifying him that the site "temporarily limited some of your account features" for posting a link along with the message "Alex Jones: Trump Must Take Action Against Web Censorship" (shown below).
.
— infowars (@infowars) August 15, 2018RealAlexJones</a> is now in <a href="https://twitter.com/Twitter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Twitter prison!
📲 Download the app while you still can: https://t.co/vm914ii1lh pic.twitter.com/5Iy0bSpwfK
That evening, the screenshots were reposted by Paul Joseph Warson, who claimed that Jones was "suspended by Twitter for 7 days for a video talking about social media censorship."[34] That day, The New York Times[35] published an article reporting that tweeted linked to a video urging "supporters to get their 'battle rifles' ready against media and others, in a violation of the company’s rules against inciting violence."
Twitter Ban
On September 5th, 2018, Jones was filmed confronting CNN reporter Oliver Darcy outside a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The same day, Jones was photographed directing questions to Dorsey as he exited the building on Capitol Hill (shown below).
On September 6th, the official Twitter Safety[38] feed posted an announcement that the @realalexjones and @infowars accounts were "permanently suspended" from the site for "abusive behavior" (shown below).
On September 7th, YouTuber "Paul Joseph Watson": announced he was suspended by Twitter as well for posting the Alex Jones video. In a video on YouTube, Watson accused Twitter of bias for the ban while comparing Jones to other journalists (shown below).
Remix Videos
On May 18th, 2016, YouTuber Todd Dracula uploaded a montage of humorous Jones clips, including a clip from his "Gay Bomb Rant" in which he yells about "chemicals in the water" that "turn the fricken frogs gay" (shown below).
On July 22nd, YouTuber Jared Nuzzolillo uploaded a video titled "Alex Jones is a human," in which Jones passionately expresses what makes him human (shown below, left). On September 7th, 2016, YouTuber Craig has Dysentery posted a YouTube poop-style remix of the clip (shown below, right).
On October 31st, YouTuber placeboing uploaded a musical remix of Jones' ranting about "goblins" in the United States government (shown below, left). On November 23rd, YouTuber BenBam uploaded an Alex Jones "clip compilation," featuring various humorous clips from the InfoWars broadcast (shown below, right).
On February 20th, 2017, the Super Deluxe YouTube channel uploaded a supercut of clips in which Jones makes various growling, snarling noises and screaming noises (shown below, left). On March 13th, the Mediamatters4america YouTube channel uploaded a montage of Jones saying "I'm not bragging" prior to praising himself (shown below, right).
On April 10th, the Alex Jones Memes Facebook page posted a clip of Jones ranting about his distaste for mustaches (shown below). Within one month, the video received upwards of 354,000 views, 4,400 reactions and 2,600 comments.
Joe Rogan Podcast Appearance
On February 1st, 2017, Jones appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, during which he discussed politics and various conspiracy theories about interdimensional beings (shown below). Within four months, the YouTube upload of the podcast gained over 4.1 million views and 38,000 comments, becoming the most viewed video on the channel.
On February 7th, Redditor MatiaIdea submitted a Layers of Irony parody comic in which Jones asks Rogan "wat level woke u on?" before smoking a joint and ranting about "interdimensional shapeshifting monsters" (shown below). In two months, the post received more than 3,800 points (85% upvoted) and 230 comments on the /r/joerogan[10] subreddit.
On March 4th, the I Only Post Memes Ironically Facebook page posted an Expanding Brain featuring a clip of Jones' speaking about interdimensional consciousness during the Joe Rogan podcast appearance (shown below).
On March 7th, YouTuber Chris Kogos uploaded a "Shooting Stars" remix featuring a similar clip of Jones' speaking (shown below).
2017 Child Custody Hearing
In Jones' April 2017 child-custody trial, Jones' attorney Randall Wilhite argued that the court should not to consider Jones' public persona when evaluating his fitness as a parent of his three children with ex-wife Kelly. "He's playing a character," said Wihite. "He is a performance artist."[6]
Jones' ex-wife, however, claimed that he was not a stable person, citing violent comments he's made toward various public figures. "He says he wants to break Alec Baldwin's neck," she said. "He wants J-Lo to get raped."
"I'm concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress," she said, referring to comments about Democratic Representative Adam Schiff. "He broadcasts from home. The children are there, watching him broadcast."[7]
Stephen Colbert spoofed Jones' "performance artist" defense on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
On April 18th, Twitter user @JTiloveTX[8][9] tweeted "Newman says that in deposition, Alex Jones said he couldn't recall basic facts about kids, because, 'I had a big bowl of chili for lunch.'" Within the first 12 hours the tweet received more than 1,500 retweets and 2,900 likes.
On April 20th, Buzzfeed’s Charlie Warzel, who is covering the trial, reported that Jones admitted to smoke marijuana yearly “to monitor its strength, which is how law enforcement does it.” Jones also revealed that he believes that marijuana has become too strong, which he blames on political donor George Soros. From his Twitter account, Warzel also tweeted "UPDATE: Jones took stand again. mentioned kids watching him. “they’re very proud of the comedy memes that i appear in; online i’m a #1 meme.” The tweet received more than 550 retweets and 1,200 likes.
Megyn Kelly Interview
On June 11th, 2017, former Fox News anchor and current NBC anchor Megyn Kelly[12] announced that on Sunday, June 18th, she would interview Alex Jones on her NBC News series Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly. In a tweet that night, she posted a clip from the interview (shown below) in a tweet with the caption "Next Sunday, I sit down with conservative radio host @RealAlexJones to discuss controversies and conspiracies #SundayNight June 18 on NBC." The tweet (shown below) received more than 2,100 retweets and 5,400 likes in three days.
Next Sunday, I sit down with conservative radio host
RealAlexJones</a> to discuss controversies and conspiracies <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SundayNight?src=hash">#SundayNight</a> June 18 on NBC <a href="https://t.co/7bVz6Fobf5">pic.twitter.com/7bVz6Fobf5</a></p>— Megyn Kelly (megynkelly) June 11, 2017
Following Kelly's tweet, many began questioning her decision behind interviewing Jones. On Twitter, people began saying that giving Jones a platform on NBC News, they are legitimizing his controversial views.
That night, following the comments to her tweet, Kelly[13] tweeted a defense of the interview. She said, "POTUS's been on & praises @RealAlexJones' show. He's giving Infowars a WH press credential. Many don't know him; our job is 2 shine a light." The tweet received more than 560 retweets and 1,800 likes.
Despite Kelly's defense, people continued to argue against the interview, particularly parents of the Newtown shooting victims. Since the shooting, Jones has propagated the conspiracy theory that the event was a fake, a heavily promoted part of the interview.[14]
The following day, Twitter user @yashar posted a picture of Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones posing for a selfie in a car. He captioned the tweet: "Wow." The tweet (shown below) received more than 800 retweets and 1,300 likes within 24 hours.[15]
After tweeting the picture, other Twitter users began using the photograph in a variety of image macros (examples below).
The following day, on June 12th, J.P. Morgan Chase removed any of their personal advertising from Kelly's show, demanding that their advertisments not appear adjacent the interview or promotion for the interview.[16] Furthermore, the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, a gun violence prevention nonprofit group founded by Sandy Hook families disinvited Kelly to host their annual Promise Champions Gala.[17]
That day, Alex Jones responded to the criticism on his daily InfoWars broadcast (shown below). He accused the NBC interview of being "propaganda" becuase of Kelly's interrogation regarding Newtown. Jones goes on to claim that he only did the appearance to get "the anatomy of a true psy op." However, he did say that the interview misrepresented his views.[18]
On June 13th, Kelly again tweeted a response to criticism, specifically being disinvited from the Sandy Hook Promise Gala. The tweet[19] received more than 800 retweets and 2,700 likes in three hours.
Several news outlets covered the backlash to Megyn Kelly's interview, including Fox,[20] BBC,[21] HuffPo[22] and more. Twitter published a Moments page, documenting the backlash to the interview.[23]
Alex Jones Challenges David Hogg to Debate
On February 21st, 2018, the Infowars YouTube channel had a video suggesting that David Hogg and other Parkland Shooting survivors were crisis actors removed from YouTube, constituting a strike against the InfoWars channel by YouTube. YouTube's policy is that if an account has three strikes in three months, it is terminated.[24] On February 27th, Hogg took to Twitter to attack Jones, calling him a "shit journalist" and brought up when Jones made similar "false-flag" claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting.
Hogg also implied Jones a "snake oil salesman" with a picture of Jones' before/after pics selling his enhancement supplements, "Super Male Vitality," saying it took 45 days to become Thicc (shown below).
In response, Jones invited Hogg to come on his show in a series of tweets to "clear things up" and "defend the first amendment," suggesting Hogg had CNN suspend the Infowars YouTube account in his name.[25]
Jones also posted a video wherein he issued the challenge to Hogg (shown below).
Alex Jones Challenges
DavidHogg111</a> to a Debate <a href="https://t.co/8Rob0dOmmt">pic.twitter.com/8Rob0dOmmt</a></p>— Alex Jones (RealAlexJones) February 27, 2018
In response, Hogg stated he would not speak to anyone who had disparaging remarks for victims of mass shootings.
Allegations of Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination and Anti-Semitism
On February 28th, 2018, the Daily Mail[25] reported that a fired InfoWars employee filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Former employee Rob Jacobson claims that Jones engaged in anti-Semitic behavior towards him. Jacobson said that Jones and his staff made anti-Semitic jokes towards Jacobson, referring to him as "The Jewish Individual," "the Resident Jew" and "Yacobson."
A second former employee, Ashley Beckford, also filed a complaint. She says:
"I was subjected to different terms and conditions of employment, in comparison to my non-Black African-American peers, when it came to my salary/wages and benefits (travel), and in regards to my dress, including my hair style.
"I also was subjected to harassment and racial slurs by Respondent's management and some peer colleagues, as well as subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile, sexually offensive work environment."
Additionally, Beckford says that a senior manager referred to her as a "coon" and denied promotions to match the salary of other employees. She also claims that Jones has sexually harrassed women in the office by "leering at them" and making "sexual advances" toward them. Finally, the complaint states that Jones touched Beckford's "butt" after he attempted to give her a "side-hug."
Jones denied the allegations. He said,[27] "I'm not going to talk about former employees. I mean nobody accuses me of stuff like that… Wow. That's all I can say. That's total bullshit."
Transgender Pornography Browser Tab
On August 24th, 2018, an Infowars broadcast featured a close-up of Jones' mobile phone, which showed a browser tab with the words "Naughty tbabe Marissa" (shown below).
The following day, a 4chan thread was created discussing the discovery, which gathered upwards of 300 replies prior to being archived.[36] In the the thread, some speculated that the tab was for a pornographic video of Australian transgender porn star Marissa Minx. Also on August 25th, an infographic about the video clip was submitted to Reddit[37] but user Dingus_Inc (shown below).
Sandy Hook Lawsuit
In March 2018, a defamation lawsuit against Jones was filed by several families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims.
On January 11th, 2019, ABC News[39] reported that the familieswere granted discovery requests by a Connecticut judge, granting access to Infowars "internal marketing and financial documents." That day, the article reached the front page of the /r/news[40] subreddit, gathering more than 32,700 points (88% upvoted) and 1,200 comments within two hours. That day, CNN reporter Oliver Darcy tweeted a statement from the Sandy Hook families attorney (shown below).
Second Joe Rogan Podcast Appearance
On February 27th, 2019, Jones appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience a second time (shown below).
That day, YouTuber Keemstar tweeted a clip of Jones yelling "they've made freakin' deal with interdimensional aliens" (shown below).
A L E X J O N E S pic.twitter.com/cqKBew2CJ1
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) February 27, 2019
Meanwhile, Twitter user @crislopezg uploaded a clip of Jones accusing parts of the United States government of "running Mexico as a laboratory test" and saying that Native Americans "genetically they go into group think really fast" (shown below).
This just got pretty racist: Alex Jones is on the Joe Rogan show and just casually claimed (Rogan just enjoying himself) that the government runs Mexico like a lab because Native Americans "genetically" go into groupthink pretty fast and therefore are easier to "mind control" pic.twitter.com/e0W5rkUlel
— cristina lópez g. (@crislopezg) February 27, 2019
Deposition
On March 29th, 2019, the lawfirm of Kaster, Lynch, Farrar & Ball posted the entirety of Jones' deposition in the Lewis v. Jones lawsuit, regarding Jones' alleged "malicious false statements about national tragedies, including the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida."[41] The videos were more than three hours in length and received more than 200,000 collective views in less than one week (shown below). That day, HuffPost[42] published a transcript of the deposition.
In the depoistion, Jones claims that while he does not "remember" where his sources came from regarding the Sandy Hook broadcasts, he does point to 4chan and YouTube as potential sources.[43] The trascript reads:
Attorney Mark Bankston: We talked earlier about misidentifying the Parkland shooter last year. InfoWars’ source was 4chan, right?
Jones: I don’t remember that, but we corrected it within a day. …
MB: What I’m asking is: Do you or do you not know if 4chan was your source?
Jones: I believe it was one of the places that put it up. …
MB: Where do you get your chatter? 4chan is one. Do you have any others for us? …
Jones: I would say YouTube. The videos within the first two weeks with, like, 5 million, 10 million views, plus; and they were showing a lot of things that when you looked at it, looked pretty compelling.
Additionally, Jones blamed his belief in the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory on a form of "psychosis," saying that frequency with which the media and corporations spread falsities, according to Jones, is what caused his distrust.[44] He said:
And I, myself, have almost had like a form of psychosis back in the past where I basically thought everything was staged, even though I’ve now learned a lot of times things aren’t staged. So I think as a pundit, someone giving an opinion, that, you know, my opinions have been wrong, but they were never wrong consciously to hurt people.”
Following the release of the video, people online began commenting about the deposition, describing it as damning for the conspiracy theorist. HuffPost reporter Sebastian Murdock tweeted[45] about the deposition, saying that it "did not go well for [Jones]." The post received more than 1,100 retweets and 2,000 likes in three days (shown below, left). Guardian reporter John Swaine tweeted,[46] "Attorney asks Alex Jones if he's done 'mocking imitations of Sandy Hook parents crying'. Jones says no. Attorney *shows Jones two video clips* of Jones doing mocking imitations of Sandy Hook parents crying. Jones continues to deny he did that" (shown below, center).
Writing for the New York Times, Charlie Warzel wrote, "This new set of viral clips busts the myth of Alex Jones, presenting him in a situation he can neither engineer nor spin. He's a man who has lost control of the narrative" (shown below, right).[47][48]
Logan Paul Podcast
On April 10th, 2019, Logan Paul tweeted a short clip of Alex Jones appearing as a guest on the Impaulsive podcast (shown below).
tomorrow on impaulsive ? pic.twitter.com/GWo2uUot5x
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) April 10, 2019
Later that day, Paul released the Impaulsive episode with Jones, which gathered upwards of 200,000 views and 3,700 comments within 24 hours (shown below). During the podcast, Jones was asked about his views on Sandy Hook and Pepe the Frog, which he accused the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign of turning it into a hate symbol.
Child Pornography Allegation
On June 14th, 2019, Jones was joined by his lawyer Norm Pattis on InfoWars to discuss an alleged malware attack which embedded child pornography on Jones' server (shown below). During the show, Jones offered a $1 million reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the person resposible. Additionally, Pattis claimed the images were never opened from the server by anyone (shown below).
On June 17th, the news site CTPost[49] reported that the law firm representing the families of Sandy Hook victims alleged that Jones had sent the pornographic files to them. Meanwhile, posts about the controversy reached the front page of the /r/news[50][51] and /r/The_Donald[52] subreddits.
DWI Arrest
On March 10th, 2020, the Travis County Sheriff's office arrested Jones and charged him with a DWI.[53] The arrest came after a call from Jones' wife who reported a domestic disturbance between the two. Jones claimed that he had a bottle of sake with dinner and walked three miles home, after an argument with his wife. When the argument continued at home, he drove to another one of his residences when he was picked up by authorities. He was releaed on $3,000 bail.
Reputation
Jones has gained a reputation for promoting a variety of conspiracy theories, many of which have been criticized for being based on flimsy or anecdotal evidence. He has accused the United States government of being involved in the Oklahoma City bombing, the September 11th attacks and for staging NASA’s Apollo program moon landings. Additionally, Jones made several hotly-debated statements against gun control in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[1] Infowars.com – Alex Jones Infowars
[2] SootMagazine – Viral Suspicion
[3] Twitter – @AlexJones
[4] YouTube – Alex Jones
[5] Facebook – Alex Jones
[6] My Statesman – In Travis County custody case, jury will search for real Alex Jones
[7] Business Insider – 'It's performance art': Lawyer for Alex Jones says InfoWars founder is 'playing a character'
[8] Death and Taxes Mag (via Wayback Machine) – Alex Jones tells court why he can’t remember facts about his kids: ‘I had a big bowl of chili for lunch’
[9] Twitter- @JTiloveTX's Tweet
[11] Facebook – Alex Jones Memes
[12] Twitter – @megynkelly's Tweet
[13] Twitter – @megynkelly's Tweet
[14] The Independent – Alex Jones doubles down on Sandy Hook conspiracy theory in 'disgusting' Megyn Kelly interview
[15] Twitter – @yashar's Tweet
[16] The Wall Street Journal – J.P. Morgan Removes NBC News Ads Over Megyn Kelly Interview With Alex Jones
[17] The Washington Post – Megyn Kelly dropped as host for Sandy Hook group’s gala over Alex Jones interview
[18] Salon – Not even Alex Jones wants his interview with Megyn Kelly to be broadcast
[19] Twitter – @megynkelly's Tweet
[20] Fox News – Megyn Kelly defends Alex Jones interview, NBC pressured to cancel it
[21] BBC – Sandy Hook rage over Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones interview
[22] HuffPo – Controversial Megyn Kelly And Alex Jones Selfie Sparks Meme
[23] Twitter – People are outraged over an upcoming Alex Jones interview
[24] CNN – InfoWars' main YouTube channel is two strikes away from being banned
[25] Twitter – Alex Jones
[26] The Daily Mail – Fired Infowars staffers at war with Alex Jones – one claiming he was teased as the site's 'resident Jew' while African American worker says she was 'mocked' for her skin tone and Jones 'grabbed her behind'
[27] The Daily Beast – Alex Jones Accused of Sexual Harassment, Bullying at InfoWars
[28] Facebook Newsroom – Enforcing Our Community Standards
[29] Twitter – @slpng_giants
[32] Salon – Meet Jared Holt the guy who’s getting Alex Jones kicked off the internet
[34] Twitter – @PrisonPlanet
[35] The New York Times – Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet
[36] Archive.is – 4chan thread
[37] Reddit – /r/TheDickShow
[38] Twitter – @TwitterSafety
[39] ABC News – Families of Sandy Hook shooting victims win legal victory in lawsuit against InfoWars
[40] Reddit – /r/politics
[41] Infowars Lawsuit – Inforwars Lawsuit
[42] Scribd – Jones Deposition Transcript
[43] HuffPost – Alex Jones Testimony Exposes Pipeline Between Infowars And YouTube, 4Chan
[44] Vox – Alex Jones blames “psychosis” for his Sandy Hook conspiracies
[45] Twitter – @SebastianMurdoc's Tweet
[46] Twitter – @jonswaine's Tweet
[47] Twitter – @cwarzel's Tweet
[48] New York Times – Why Courtrooms Are Kryptonite for Alex Jones
[49] CTPost – Alex Jones sent child porn to Sandy Hook families
[52] Reddit – /r/The_Donald (unavailable)
[53] TIME (via Wayback Machine) – Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Arrested for Driving While Intoxicated in Texas
