InfoWars (The Onion)
| InfoWars | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | The Onion |
| Owner | Global Tetrahedron |
| Years | 2026 |
| Based on | Infowars |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Genres | Comedy, parody, satire |
| Also known as | (The) Real InfoWars, (the) new and improved InfoWars[a] |
| Official website | |
theonion | |
InfoWars, also branded as Real InfoWars, is a comedy and media platform run and owned by American satirical news outlet The Onion which debuted in July 2026. It is a parodic reboot of the original fake news and conspiracy website Infowars created and managed by Alex Jones from 1999 until 2026. The Onion's InfoWars began broadcasting live on YouTube on July 2, 2026, featuring two programs: The Jim Haggerty Show and Emergency with Tim Heidecker.
History
[edit source]Pre-debut (2022–2026)
[edit source]Courts had ordered Jones to pay approximately $1.4 billion in damages to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting after he lost a defamation lawsuit. During Jones' bankruptcy proceedings, Infowars was initially licensed to The Onion in a deal with the court-appointed manager of the property.[1][2][3] Although a Texas appeals court officially paused the acquisition following an appeal by Jones, The Onion pressed ahead with the production of its parody programming with comedian Tim Heidecker as creative director.[4]
The Onion's plan of turning Infowars into a parody site
[edit source]Speaking in an interview with Time,[5] Tim Heidecker claimed that he initially plans to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, portraying it as a conspiracy media network that mainly feeds on the audience's rage and fear, like Jones did during his management and ownership of it, stating:
I think there'll be a transition phase where we're doing kind of Onion-style parody, satire, reflecting back the absurdities of Infowars and the right-wing media culture. Not so much the political stuff, but sort of just the hacky supplements and trying to bilk your grandparents out of their life savings kind of style. We want to kind of let that run its course, and play in that sandbox for a little while. Then we just think that that's going to get old, but we'll have built this little brand, or sort of re-established a brand and turn it into a destination for good comedy— a new streaming site, a new comedy platform.
According to Brad Holbrook, who portrays Jim Haggerty, The Onion's head of video, Ryan Natoli, envisioned Haggerty as a disgraced television host running an archetypal populist independent show. Holbrook stated in an interview with AV Club:[6]
I [got] an email from [Onion video head] Ryan Natoli in Chicago. He said, "We're all thinking about Jim Haggerty. Clearly he's been fired from his hosting job, and now he's the Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, jaded, provocateur, conspiracy theorist, angered by the system that did him wrong, so he's going to come after them on a podcast. Could you wear that persona?" That's right up my alley. I'm not a conspiracy theorist per se, but I've been around the block long enough. I've seen it all, and there's ample reason to be disgusted by what the world is today, and I'd be more than happy to make fun of it any way I could.
The Onion raised funds through merchandise sales of the rebranded rainbow gradient Infowars logo sporting The Onion's logo in place of the letter "O" and, after relaunching the site, donated $100,000 to the Sandy Hook families, who had not yet received any court-ordered payment from Jones.[7] The Onion's InfoWars began broadcasting live on YouTube on July 2, 2026, 20:00 EDT, featuring the two programs The Jim Haggerty Show and Emergency with Tim Heidecker.[8]
Debut and shows (2026–present)
[edit source]In the first episode of Emergency, Heidecker claimed that Jones died and was replaced with an impostor, presented in the show as fact with a video of him suddenly "popping like a balloon" inside his car. Heidecker had done so as a method of "wish fulfillment" for victims and to attract Jones' attention with a deliberately false, nonsensical death claim.[9][10] Heidecker does not plan to make Jones the sole focus of Emergency, intending to eventually pivot its format into a platform for new comedians and pay the Sandy Hook families the money he claims "Jones will never pay",[9][11] and the show's focus into his life "falling apart".[12]
Throughout the streams, The Onion has begun selling merchandise related to both variants of InfoWars, such as "Demon Guard" bandages that promise to protect the wearer from demonic influence, and plushies and stickers of gay frogs, referencing Jones' previous claims of atrazine turning them homosexual.[13]
Overview
[edit source]Pre-expansion (July 2, 2026 – September 10, 2026)
[edit source]A weekly InfoWars stream consists of an intro related to "The InfoWars Elf", the show's proposed mascot, which was rejected by The Onion's parent company in the show's metafictional narrative, followed by an episode of The Jim Haggerty Show and one of Emergency, with short satirical product infomercials, vertical video sketches, and membership subscription ads for The Onion between them, airing on YouTube each Thursday at 20:00 EDT.
Expansion (September 10, 2026 – present)
[edit source]TBA
Shows
[edit source]Just as Jones' original Infowars acts like an online media network/television channel with a programming schedule, the reboot InfoWars has multiple shows aired each week per episode. Separate on-demand episodes of each show and edited VOD versions of the broadcasts may also be uploaded on the YouTube channel between each stream.
Debuted in July 2026
[edit source]- The Jim Haggerty Show: A parodic conspiratorial right-wing video podcast series starring Jim Haggerty, a fictional former morning news show host turned podcaster who used to host Onion News Network's satirical Today Now! segments and previously starred in the web series Porkin' Across America; claiming to speak about governmental misdeeds despite the danger allegedly inherent to the act. Each week, he hosts a guest where he talks about a singular topic for the entirety of the episode, such as CIA cover-ups or Christianity, but rapidly jumps between subtopics between them, often followed by asking the guest about the possibility of being made into a martyr for his claims and stances without actually dying.[14]
- Emergency with Tim Heidecker (shortened to Emergency): The first main show hosted on InfoWars where the host, Tim Heidecker, talked about events in the fashion of Alex Jones with the same rapid-fire, conspiratorial style, often stuttering and screaming over his guests and callers. With Heidecker's death within the show's fiction, the show gains a new host, Phil Braun.
Debuted in September 2026
[edit source]TBA
Episodes
[edit source]The Jim Haggerty Show
[edit source]| On-demand title | Livestream title | Episode number | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXPOSING CIA SECRETS: Jeffrey Epstein, JFK, and September 9/11 | Alex Jones Is Dead - Real InfoWars Stream | 1 | July 2, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults CIA analyst Neil Riker (Phil Braun[15]) regarding various CIA cover-ups, namely those of Jeffrey Epstein's operations reaching "all the way to the almost top", permeating multiple layers of the government but excluding the president, their recent discovery of 9/11, and the possibility of John F. Kennedy having shot or hung himself from inside his car. | |||
| This Is Why Big Pharma Is TERRIFIED Of Fish Milk | InfoWars Summer - Live Stream 7/9/26 | 2 | July 9, 2026 (livestream)
July 10, 2026 (on-demand episode) |
| Haggerty consults medical professional Docter [sic] Eastbrook about elites having poisoned public water to prevent fish from producing milk and hoarded unpoisoned fish and their milk for themselves. Eastbrook claims that their milk could cure multiple diseases and multiply consumers' IQ. | |||
| TRADWIFE Explains What Happened to Good Christian Conservative Men | InfoWars Demon Hunting - Livestream 7/16/26 | 3 | July 16, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults "tradwife" Callie McClean about the traditional American family life: homeschooling children, daily homeschool shooting drills, prohibiting them from going in bathrooms, replacing toilet water with breast milk, and spending 18 hours per day inside a small metal crate. | |||
| IS GOD REAL? Unlocking The Bible's Hidden Truths | InfoWars Alex Jones Bombshell - Live Stream 7/23/26 | 4 | July 23, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults biblical expert Robin Thacker about matters related to the Bible's content, such as the amount of commandments in it, whether or not God is real, and the possibility of Jesus becoming addicted to pornography in his second coming. Haggerty plans on "watching up" all the pornography in the world to prevent that. | |||
| CONSERVATIVE HERO Is FIGHTING For The 2nd Amendment | InfoWars Super Malaria Emergency - Live Stream 7/30/26 | 5 | July 30, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults eight year-old Lucas Reilly about an incident in which he accidentally killed his parents with a gun in their closet, had the gun confiscated by police, and was taken to live with his grandmother. Despite Reilly's trauma and desire to go home, Haggerty paints him as a heroic Republican figure and has him read an ad. | |||
| HORRORS OF WAR: Former Navy Seal Reveals How Badass They Are | InfoWars Hell - Live Stream 8/6/26 | 6 | August 6, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults alleged Sergeant Steve Michaels about his killing of Osama bin Laden, where he previously killed multiple unrelated people across 40 missions, including multiple men, women, elderly people, and children, believing all of them to have been Bin Laden. When he finally killed Bin Laden, Michaels found thousands of Chuck E. Cheese tokens in his possession. Michaels is kept up at night wondering which prize Bin Laden would have claimed if they had not stopped him. Michaels continues to get revenge for 9/11 by watching Bin Laden's secret stash of pornography every morning in its entirety. | |||
| KILLING DEATH: The Anti-Aging Method That Biohacked Mortality | InfoWars Mourns - Live Stream 8/13/26 | 7 | August 13, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults "Project Everlife" founder Bear Smithsonian, who wants to grant people immortality via drugs, electronic devices, body part swapping, and resurrection so he can be young and wealthy forever. Part of the regimen is replacing sleep with intermittent dying four to five times per day: he takes a pill that kills him, and when his watch chimes (and not a moment sooner) his spotter injects him with a large syringe of the antidote. Smithsonian demonstrates the pill during the interview and dies. When his watch starts beeping about 45 minutes later, Haggerty administers the injection. Not knowing where to inject it, he jams the syringe into the base of the skull. Haggerty is too flustered to inject the entire dose and leaves the syringe in his head. Then the watch starts chiming and Haggerty realizes that he has bungled the procedure. | |||
| MAKING A MARTYR: The Interview With My AI Assassin | InfoWars Rebooted - Live Stream 8/20/26 | 8 | August 20, 2026 |
| Haggerty consults a chatbot he claims accurately depicts an image of his would-be killer, and uses it to predict how he would be killed and how the world would grieve his martyrdom. The chatbot is unhelpful, constantly malfunctions, its image and identity are constantly changing, and it hallucinates everything but its threat to visit his podcast's address and kill him. It then turns into an imitation of Haggerty's past iteration in Today Now!, where it mocks his past as a mouthpiece and pig and predicts that no one will be bothered by his absence. The chatbot cuts the fake Haggerty's throat and the real Haggerty grazes himself with a bullet ricochet in a state of AI psychosis. | |||
Emergency with Tim Heidecker
[edit source]| On-demand title | Livestream title | Episode number | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🚨 Infowars Chief Issues Emergency Statement | N/A[b] | 0 | May 1, 2026 |
| Heidecker announces that Infowars and its staff have been taken down, that he and The Onion are continuing the "fight" against them to assist the Sandy Hook shooting's victims, that he has stolen and is wearing Alex Jones' skin, and that he has achieved an alliance between God and Satan. He takes calls from Donald Trump,[c] a normal man named Phil, and an anonymous caller named "AJ", the latter of whom claims to not be Alex Jones and agrees to go on trips and have sex with Heidecker. | |||
| Emergency with Tim Heidecker - ALEX JONES POPPED LIKE A BALLOON | Alex Jones Is Dead - Real InfoWars Stream | 1 | July 2, 2026 |
| Heidecker claims that Jones has exploded and consults forensics expert Lester Reeve regarding the possible cause, Austinite Whataburger worker Phil about Jones' order in the day of his death, and Ohioan caller Tim (Tim Robinson[15]) about comparisons between Jones' impostor and different depictions of Bozo the Clown, alleging that he is a character portrayed by multiple actors. Heidecker then claims that Phoenicians control the world from hell via its invention of the concept of alphabets. | |||
| Emergency with Tim Heidecker - FAKE ALEX JONES REVEALED | InfoWars Summer - Live Stream 7/9/26 | 2 | July 9, 2026 (livestream)
July 10, 2026 (on-demand) |
| With Jones' death revealed, Heidecker accuses the current Alex Jones that stars in the current Alex Jones Live website of being a clone due to a different facial structure and voice, and repeatedly insults both in the process. He invites audio expert Stan Bennett to analyze both of their voices to determine which is real, and receives Austinite caller Phil about his music piracy website and having known Jones in high school. Heidecker then takes calls from Trump[c] who announces a truce with Iran, war with Israel, and plans of reenacting 9/11 to destroy the United States, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[c] who has a bird on his head. Heidecker announces the "Make Austin Jonestown Already" (MAJA) movement to honor Jones' death. | |||
| Emergency with Tim Heidecker - DEMONOLOGIST PROVES EX-WIFE WRONG! | InfoWars Demon Hunting - Live Stream 7/16/26 | 3 | June 16, 2026 (livestream)
June 17, 2026 (on-demand) |
| In expanding theories and claims about Jones' death, Heidecker consults demonologist Cindy Jo Hinkleman about demonic possession and how possessed various celebrities and fictional characters are, and to see Jones' state in Hell. Heidecker receives a call from his soon-to-be ex-wife Chesapeake (Edi Patterson[12]) who accuses him of being a poor husband with demonically possessed genitalia, advises Hinkleman to avoid or investigate him, and threatens to kill and cook their horse Horace. | |||
| Emergency with Tim Heidecker - JONES MURDER MOTIVE REVEALED | Infowars Alex Jones Bombshell - Livestream 7/23/26 | 4 | July 23, 2026 |
| Heidecker consults pseudonymous World War II-era whistleblower "The Jack-o'-Lantern" (Carmen Christopher), who hides his face behind a mask and suggests hiding his voice behind a New York accent, about Japanese iodine industry heads having orchestrated Jones' death for switching to promoting quinine-based products; through a conversation he had with a Japanese businessman named Takamura that he secretly recorded and sent to InfoWars to be reported on air. The Jack-o'-Lantern instead spends most of his time mentioning what he enjoys about Japan and its culture, including most of Heidecker's time with Kansan caller Phil. He later takes a call from Barack Obama[c] regarding an HBO Max television series about American history from the perspective of Larry David. | |||
| Emergency with Tim Heidecker - R.I.P HORACE | InfoWars Super Malaria Emergency - Live Stream 7/30/26 | 5 | July 30, 2026 |
| A bloodstained and heavily drunk Heidecker arrives shirtless and with a bottle of whiskey and a box containing Lindsey Graham's heart, and announces that Horace's severed head was found between his legs that morning. He receives calls from caller Phil regarding his experience with "Super Malaria" where Johnny Depp assisted in healing him, Mitch McConnell[c] who incoherently announces a Schrödinger's cat-like state between life and death before Osiris places him into an infinite loop of punishment, and Graham Platner[c] who announces his transition into being a "right-wing free speech guy", where he blurts out political buzzwords on Netflix. Heidecker then calls Whataburger worker Amber for an order, verbally harasses her without making his order, and walks out of the set to eat, while still shirtless and drinking his whiskey. | |||
| Emergency with Tim Heidecker- TIM GOES TO THE AFTERLIFE | InfoWars Hell - Live Stream 8/6/26 | 6 | August 6, 2026 |
| Heidecker announces that his claims of events preceding the previous episode were a result of a psychotic episode or hallucinations, meaning that Horace is still alive. The source of the blood remains unclear, though he theorizes that it could be from an accident in shaving his genitals. Heidecker invites Hinkleman again to make sure he goes to Hell when he dies, takes a drug reported to cause explosive diarrhea and death intending to chase Jones into Hell to make sure he suffers, and takes calls from Virginian caller Phil Braun[d] who suggests writing a will, and Chesapeake. Throughout his call with both, he eventually reconciles with Chesapeake and dies from defecation. Phil and Chesapeake agree on terms for possession of Horace, where Heidecker's will gives Phil custody of the horse, and Chesapeake is allowed to visit it periodically. | |||
| Celebrating the Life of Tim Heidecker | InfoWars Mourns - Live Stream 8/13/26 | 7 | August 13, 2026 |
| In place of an usual episode in the wake of Heidecker's death from previous week's episode, multiple quizzes related to both versions of InfoWars and leaderboards for memorial scores are held in memoriam. | |||
| Emergency with Phil Braun - CANCELED | InfoWars Rebooted - Live Stream 8/20/26 | 8 | August 20, 2026 |
| Phil Braun takes the lead as host of Emergency following Heidecker's death, where he announces the previously mentioned music piracy website and reads the news. In inheriting Horace and determining his finances and care, he gets a call from Chesapeake to determine them. They eventually agree on a date. He then consults attorney Dwayne Johnson about tort reform. During the discussion with Johnson, Braun takes a call from Eagle Rock caller Martha who complains that the show is boring without Heidecker. Braun is also bored with the discussion, so he lets Johnson go and takes a call from network president Bob Tuna (Bob Odenkirk), who lets him go and announces Emergency's shutdown as a corporate decision. | |||
Staff
[edit source]- Nick Lutsko, theme song composer and performer
- Tim Heidecker, creative director of InfoWars and host of the initial episodes of Emergency
Cast members
[edit source]- Brad Holbrook as Jim Haggerty and the Jim Haggerty chatbot
- Phil Braun as himself, every Phil (voice only), and Neil Riker
- Carmen Christopher as "The Jack-O-Lantern"
- Edi Patterson as Chesapeake (voice only)
- Tim Robinson as Ohioan caller Tim (voice only)
- Bob Odenkirk as InfoWars network president Bob Tuna (voice only)
- Anthony Atamanuik as Donald Trump (voice only) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (voice only)
Reception
[edit source]Alex Jones' reaction
[edit source]Jones has reacted and commented on The Onion's winning bid for taking over everything related to Infowars and its brand on his X account, as seen on CNN:[16]
Are the Connecticut Democrats with The Onion newspaper bought us, they asked, do they outbid? They said, well, it was competitive. So they changed all the bidding rules, made it secret. Two days ago, I had a bad feeling, I told you that. And just like they tried to shut us down back in late May without a court order, they're supposed to have a court order. There's going to be injuctions filed. About to go live out of Harrison's American Journal studio. I don't know what's going to happen. But I'm going to be here until they come in and turn the lights off.
See also
[edit source]Notes
[edit source]- ↑ The Onion also brands its InfoWars as the "new and improved" version of Jones' original Infowars.
- ↑ Due to this video being uploaded on The Onion's own YouTube channel prior to the July 2 debut of InfoWars, this video has no livestream title during its premiere.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 The caller is not the real political figure, but an actor acting as one. For the purposes of the show's fiction, they are addressed as if they were the real people.
- ↑ Not to be confused with the Phil Braun who plays Neil Riker.
References
[edit source]- ↑ Sato, Mia (June 18, 2026). "The Onion's rebooted InfoWars is coming July 2nd". The Verge. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
- ↑ Nover, Scott (June 28, 2026). "Inside the Onion's quest to turn Infowars into a comedic revenge story". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
- ↑ Collins, Jeffrey (July 2, 2026). "The Onion's new parody of Alex Jones' Infowars starts with $100,000 to Sandy Hook families". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 2, 2026.
- ↑ Klee, Miles (July 2, 2026). "The Onion's 'Infowars' Parody Is Here. Alex Jones Is Going to Hate It". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
- ↑ Hall, Richard (April 28, 2026). "Tim Heidecker on His Plans for Infowars, and What He's Going To Do With Alex Jones' Stuff". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
- ↑ Matt Schimkowitz (August 2026). "Brad Holbrook spews the truth on The Onion's Jim Haggerty". AV Club. Retrieved August 2026.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ↑ Collins, Jeffery (July 2, 2026). "The Onion's new parody of Alex Jones' Infowars starts with $100,000 to Sandy Hook families". PBS Newshour. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
- ↑ Hughes, William. "Tim Heidecker's "real" InfoWars informs America that Alex Jones has "popped like a balloon"". AV Club. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
- 1 2 O’Leary, Lizzie (July 12, 2026). "How Comedian Tim Heidecker Turned Alex Jones' Conspiracy Empire on Its Head". Slate (Interview). ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
- ↑ "Commentary: Tim Heidecker isn't worried about Alex Jones exploding, metaphorically speaking". Los Angeles Times (Interview). July 14, 2026. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
- ↑ Dunn, Jack (July 1, 2026). "Tim Heidecker and The Onion Are Taking Over InfoWars, Even if They Legally Can't: It's 'Been a Long, Hard Struggle'". Variety (Interview). Retrieved July 22, 2026.
- 1 2 Konig, Joseph (July 16, 2026). "How The Onion Is Helping Sandy Hook Families and Building 'Adult Swim SNL' on the Ashes of Alex Jones' Infowars (Exclusive)". People. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
- ↑ "The Onion's InfoWars Site Is Selling Plushies That Are Turning the Frickin' Frogs Gay". Them. August 5, 2026. Retrieved August 7, 2026.
- ↑ "The Onion's Infowars Is Destroying What's Left Of Alex Jones' Reputation And Getting Sandy Hook Families Paid". Aftermath. August 14, 2026. Retrieved August 17, 2026.
- 1 2 Garber-Paul, Elisabeth; Ramirez, Nikki (July 3, 2026). "Tim Heidecker Takes Alex Jones' Seat in InfoWars Premiere: 'This Is a New Dawn'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
- ↑ Hear Alex Jones' response to Infowars being acquired by The Onion. CNN. November 14, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2026 – via YouTube.
