In the wake of 2012’s Sandy Hook elementary school massacre that killed 20 children and six adults, InfoWars host Alex Jones accused grieving parents of being “crisis actors.” This pattern — based upon Jones’ conspiracy theories that such tragedies are “false flag” operations aimed at taking down Second Amendment rights — has (sadly) continued to present day. The recent Stoneman Douglas massacre was followed by Jones feuding with teen survivor David Hogg (while also calling him a “crisis actor”), and this has resurrected the harassment against Sandy Hook families, who are now taking legal action.
The Huffington Post reports that the parents of two Sandy Hook victims have sued Jones after enduring over five years of his lies and death threats from his audience members. Attorney Mark Bankston has issued a statement on behalf of the parents:
“Even after these folks had to experience this trauma, for the next five years they were tormented by Alex Jones with vicious lies about them. And these lies were meant to convince his audience that the Sandy Hook parents are frauds and have perpetrated a sinister lie on the American people.”
Although Jones has been sued by multiple other people — including a man that InfoWars falsely blamed for the Parkland shooting and Chobani yogurt — over the years, until now, the Sandy Hook parents have only sued NBC while attempting to stop the network from airing Jones’ 2017 Megyn Kelly interview.
Generally speaking, such lawsuits lead to awkward apologies by Jones on his show, but it’s difficult to imagine him backing down on the matter of Sandy Hook, through which he has fueled his notoriety and income stream, for years. Still, the parents of both Sandy Hook victims who have sued Jones are seeking over $1 million in damages, so that might just be enough incentive for Jones to backtrack, finally, on his biggest (and arguably, his most destructive) lie. And since there will, inevitably, be future mass shootings, perhaps this lawsuit can spare the families of future victims from the same horrible treatment.
(Via Huffington Post)