Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has a long history of making dubious claims during fits of pique to his audience, but one claim stands out more than others, and it has brought Jones to a courtroom.
For years, Jones claimed that the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the 2012 attack in which 26 people, including 20 children aged six and seven were killed, was a hoax perpetrated by opponents of the Second Amendment, and the parents so-called "crisis actors."
As CBS News reported, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jessie was killed in the Sandy Hook attack, testified about the harassment and death threats they've endured due to Jones's false claims about the massacre.
A day later, Jones testified that he now understands that the attack did happen. "Especially since I've met the parents. It's 100% real," Jones said.
Heslin and Lewis say Jones needs to face consequences for repeatedly spreading lies, and are seeking $150 million for defamation. Jones's company, Free Speech Systems, has already filed for bankruptcy protection, as CNN reported.
Jones testified that although he now understands that his claims were "absolutely irresponsible," he's still associated with them. "They (the media) won't let me take it back," Jones said, ABC News reported.
Jones added that the media has "typecast (him) as someone that runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money off Sandy Hook, is obsessed by Sandy Hook."
Jones has cast doubt upon incidents such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, the lawyer noted.
"I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings," Jones acknowledged, according to AP News.
In one exchange, the Sandy Hook parents' lawyer, Mark Bankston, showed clips of a host on Jones's show claiming the trial was rigged and the judge following a script. In another, after Jones claimed he didn't use email, Bankston showed an email coming from his email address.
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