About
Alex Jones is an American talk show host of the syndicated radio program The Alex Jones Show and founder of conservative 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 (shown below). In the next six years, the video gained over 3.9 million views and 60,300 comments.
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]
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.
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 – 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