Alex Jones loses custody case despite attempting to distance himself from his bombastic Infowars persona

Bombastic conspiracy theorist and Infowars founder Alex Jones lost a custody case against his ex-wife, Kelly Jones, over the right to decide whom their children live with, The Daily Beast reports. Central to the case was a debate over if Jones' character on Infowars was authentic, or just a persona.

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 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 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 behind MLB.com and PBS.org. During the trial, Judge Orlinda Naranjo averted allowing arguments centered on Jones' politics and limited the number of Infowars clips that could be shown in court.

While the parents will continue to have joint custody over their three children, Kelly Jones had told the court she had only seen the kids five times this year. The jury ruled in her favor 10-2.

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Attorney Robert Hoffman argued Alex Jones is a "master manipulator" who is "like a cult leader, and we see the horrific things cult leaders do to their followers — and the kids are his followers, doing what daddy says to do." Kelly Jones said she was afraid of her children being exposed to his beliefs and that they are "morphing into him."