- Alex Jones is the controversial founder of the right-wing website and show InfoWars, which he often uses to spout his inflammatory conspiracies
- He was sued for defamation by the families of Sandy Hook victims after he began circulating lies about the 2012 mass shooting where 20 children and six educators were killed, calling it a hoax
- After two court battles in Connecticut and Texas, Jones was ordered pay a combined $1 billion to nine of the victims’ families
- In the case against him in Texas, an economist testified Jones has a net worth of between $135 million and $270 million
Alex Jones, the ultra-conservative radio show host and known conspiracy theorist, was ordered to pay $965 million to the families of eight victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting for the damage he caused them by circulating his lie that the massacre was a hoax. The decision by the Connecticut court, which came on Oct. 12, 2022, follows the $45 million in punitive damages Jones was ordered to pay another victim’s family by a Texas court two months prior. Jones’ lawyer said they will appeal the verdicts.
With Texas having a $750k cap on punitive damages and another Sandy Hook defamation case still coming to trial reportedly by the end of the year, it’s currently not clear how much Jones will end up paying. As for how much this might hurt Jones financially, an economist at his Texas trial testified the host has a net worth of between $135 million and $270 million, per CNN.
Keep reading to find out more about Jones, below.
1. Alex is the founder of the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars
He founded the website in 1999. It’s devoted to Alex’s rants, his radio show, and more often than not, his extreme conspiracy news. That includes his loud and long claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre that left 20 children dead was a hoax. He alleged that the 1995 deadly Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing was government-manufactured terrorism, and that the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. were caused by the George W. Bush Administration. “I’ll tell you the bottom line,” he said at the time, “98 percent chance this was a government-orchestrated controlled bombing.”
2. Alex is banned on virtually all social media platforms
Alex’s vitriolic speech has got him banned from Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and more. On Sept. 6, 2018, Twitter announced, “Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations.” When Facebook announced in 2019 that Alex was banned, along with other extreme conservatives including Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, the company said in a statement: “We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today.”
3. Alex has proven to be anti-LGBTQ.
In 2010 he claimed the Pentagon had developed a “gay bomb.” “The reason there’s so many gay people now is because it’s a chemical warfare operation, and I have the government documents where they said they’re going to encourage homosexuality with chemicals so that people don’t have children,” he said in a 2010 broadcast per NBC News. In 2017 he declared that “The majority of frogs in most areas of the United States are now gay,” though he had no evidence to back it up. He also said that the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, FL was the LGBTQ community’s fault. In 2018 he asserted that the Pentagon had created “weaponized perfumes” that “will make men attracted to other men, and they want you to do that so you don’t have kids.” He has had other anti-LGBTQ speech that helped get him banned from social media platforms.
The most disturbing video known to man https://t.co/izb038PBXB
— Barstool News Network (@BarstoolNewsN) May 1, 2020
4. Alex has claimed that former First Lady Michelle Obama is a “man.”
In 2014 he posted a video to InfoWars asking “Is Michelle Obama a man?” He then called Michelle the transgender slur “tranny.” And it didn’t stop after she left the White House. In 2017, he ranted that “Since the early days of the Obama administration, citizens across the board have studied videos and photos of Michelle Obama and said that she is a man. But new shock footage has emerged that is being censored off the internet as fast as you can upload it.” He then showed photos and videos of pleats in her pants and skirts and outrageously claimed that he saw a large “penis” outline.
5. Alex is publicly supported by Donald Trump, Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson
Alex has been a big supporter of Donald Trump, telling his listener’s that the real estate mogul was basically a godsend here to save the White House. During a 2015 interview on his show, Trump returned the favor, telling Jones, “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down,” per The Washington Post.
In December 2021, Tucker Carlson called Jones “one of the most popular journalists” on his Fox News Show. “[He’s] a better journalist than say, NBC News’s security correspondent Ken Dilanian or Margaret Brennan of CBS,” Tucker added.
Joe Rogan has defended Jones in the past, saying “What is he doing that’s so awful? It’s entertaining!” according to The Washington Post. Rogan also had Jones on his popular podcast in 2020, where Jones pushed false claims about the coronavirus vaccine.