In custody battle, Infowars' Alex Jones argues he is a 'playing a character'


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Infowars' Alex Jones is attempting to distance himself from his inflammatory online "persona" as he goes to court with his ex-wife, Kelly Jones, in a renewed custody battle over their 14-year-old son and 9- and 12-year-old daughters, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Kelly Jones is accusing Alex Jones of not being "a stable person." Jones is famous for promoting conspiracy theories, including that Hillary Clinton is a literal sulfuric demon and that the government perpetrated 9/11 and the Sandy Hook massacre. His show is broadcast on 150 stations and Infowars.com gets millions of unique visitors every month and is ranked 387th of all U.S. websites, not far after MLB.com and PBS.org.
"He's not a stable person," Kelly Jones argued. "He says he wants to break Alec Baldwin's neck. He wants J-Lo to get raped. I'm concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress … He broadcasts from home. The children are there, watching him broadcast."
But Alex Jones' lawyer argued that "[evaluating] Alex Jones as a father would be like judging Jack Nicholson in a custody dispute based on his performance as the Joker in Batman," the Austin American-Statesman writes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"He's playing a character," attorney Randall Wilhite argued at a pretrial hearing. "He is a performance artist."
The Jones' children have lived with Alex Jones since the couple divorced in 2015. In a July 2015 broadcast, Jones brought his then 12-year-old son onto the show: "He is undoubtedly cut out for this, and I intend for him to eclipse what I've done," Jones said at the time. "He's a way greater person than I was at 12. I love you so much, and I didn't mean to get you up here, sweetheart, and tell people how much I love you, but you're so handsome, and you're a good little knight who's going to grow up, I know, to be a great fighter against the enemy."
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Not a good idea
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Are private schools safe from Starmer?
Today's Big Question Schools would pay VAT under Labour government but party scraps plans to remove charitable status
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Sam Bankman-Fried: crypto on trial
Talking point The implosion of FTX may go down as one of the biggest financial frauds in American history
By The Week Staff Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published