Comment In the roughly 10 years since he declared the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history a “giant hoax,” Infowars founder Alex Jones has been condemned and decommissioned by tech giants like Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify, and faced significant financial blows. . The latest came Thursday, when a jury ruled Jones must pay $4.1 million in restitution to the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting after creating a “living hell” for the family. But as Jones’ false claims and rants catapulted him into the national political debate, his rise has arguably been solidified, thanks to Donald Trump and Joe Rogan embracing Jones and endorsing his ideas to an online audience of millions in recent years. Jones’ 2015 interview with Trump offered a window into some of the future president’s talking points at his rallies. “Your reputation is amazing,” Trump told Jones at the time. Jones attending ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ in 2020 allowed him to promote false claims about the coronavirus vaccination on Spotify, where he was banned. A clip shared widely on Twitter this week shows how Rogan, whose show has an estimated audience of 11 million per episode, previously defended Jones as “loose” and of entertainment value. “What is he doing that is so awful?” Rogan asked. “It is fun!” Reps for Trump and Rogan did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Friday. Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million to Sandy Hook parents, jury rules The decision by an Austin jury Thursday means Jones could pay significantly less than the $150 million sought by Neal Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, for comments made after the 2012 elementary school shooting. Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn., which left 26 people dead, 20 of them young children. It remains to be seen how much Jones, 48, may be ordered to pay in punitive damages. The jury is expected to return Friday to weigh that amount — an amount that could be significantly higher. On August 4, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble read the Austin jury’s decision to fine Alex Jones $4.1 million in restitution to the parents of Sandy Hook. (Video: Travis County 459th District Court) Shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting, Jones, who had previously promoted conspiracy theories about the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 attacks, falsely claimed that “no one died” at the school and that the attack was “staged.” and “manufacturing” by gun control advocates. The comments not only angered the grieving parents, but also led to death threats and abuse from strangers. After Heslin told jurors this week that the false allegations had made his life a “living hell,” Jones admitted in court to the family that the shooting was “100 percent real.” “Neil and Scarlett are thrilled with the outcome and look forward to putting Mr. Jones’ money to good use,” Mark Bankston, the parents’ attorney, told The Washington Post on Thursday. “With punitive damages still to be decided and several additional defamation lawsuits pending, it is clear that Mr. Jones’ time on the American stage is finally coming to an end.” His presence on the national stage increased when Trump, who became the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, agreed to be interviewed by Infowars. Trump and Jones said the December 2015 interview was arranged by Trump confidant Roger Stone — years later Jones and Stone would be subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. “I won’t let you down,” Trump told the Infowars founder. Jones has acknowledged the impression he appeared to have on Trump, taking credit for introducing the then-candidate to the idea that members of the media were his “enemy.” “It’s surreal to talk about issues here on the air and then, word for word, hear Trump say it two days later,” Jones told his audience at the time. The connection between Trump and Jones was documented in “United States of Conspiracy,” a 2020 special by PBS’s “Frontline.” One of the lies Jones peddled on his show was that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State. Trump repeated Jones’ false claim about Clinton and Obama at one of the Republican candidate’s rallies before the 2016 presidential election, according to PBS. Trump repeated, during an interview with Fox News, another one of Jones’ lies: that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was connected to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Former Infowars executives told Frontline how Trump seemingly using Jones’ false claims as his own was “an irresistible trip for Alex.” “Someone in the mainstream — Trump — using the words that Jones had been using for decades, I think that emboldened Jones and changed him as a person,” said Josh Owens, a former video editor at Infowars. Trump’s endorsement elevated Jones into the national conversation, such as when Fox News host Tucker Carlson hailed Jones as “one of the most popular journalists on the right.” Joe Walsh, the former Illinois Republican congressman who has since become an outspoken critic of Trump and his GOP allies, noted on Twitter this week how “there really is no difference between Alex Jones and Donald Trump. No one.” But the raised profile also cost Jones. In 2018, Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify were among the platforms that banned all content from Jones and Infowars for violating their hate speech guidelines. After Roku left Infowars in 2019, Jones shared a cryptic post on his Instagram account with a tweet from Infowars reporter Owen Shroyer, which featured banner art with Jones’ face looking furious. “Hit me now and I only get stronger,” Shroyer wrote. Roku gave Infowars a platform that reached millions. After hours of rage, he relented. In the world of podcasting, Rogan is one of its top personalities. Rogan, a lightning rod for controversy who has a huge fan following, reached a deal with Spotify in 2020 for a reported $100 million for his podcast library. So when Rogan welcomed Jones to his show in October 2020, the Infowars host listed a series of falsehoods about coronavirus safety measures, including vaccination and coverage, climate science and the polio vaccine. During the three-hour appearance, Rogan also addressed Jones’ lies surrounding the Sandy Hook shooting. “We all know you have it [messed] some things, right?’ Rogan told Jones in 2020, specifically mentioning Sandy Hook. “But you’ve got so many things right. That’s why I keep talking to you about these things, and that’s why I stand up for you, and why I think it’s … dangerous to censor you.” In response to the backlash that followed, Rogan defended Jones’ presence on his show. Rogan said on Instagram that he checked “every crazy thing he said” and that “it all verified.” “I knew people were going to criticize the content of the podcast without even listening and I was right,” Rogan wrote. “He said a lot of crazy, but accurate things, and that’s what I’ve been saying about him for years.” Although Spotify banned Jones and Infowars from its platforms, company executives also defended the ban, writing in an internal email how “it’s important to have diverse voices and opinions on our platform,” according to BuzzFeed News. Rogan came under fire in early 2022 for controversies surrounding the coronavirus misinformation and the many previous instances in which the host used the n-word. A spokesperson for Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rogan’s supporters have also taken an interest in Jones. On Reddit, users on the subreddit dedicated to Rogan have flooded the forum with posts about Jones and quotes from the defamation lawsuit. While some on Reddit are sick of reading about Rogan’s one-time guest, others can’t get enough. “Alex Jones spouts FACTS!” one supporter wrote.
