Alex Jones, the shrieking maniacal Trump-supporting conspiracy-theory-spewing mouthpiece of InfoWars, has gotten himself into the barrel three times over.
First off, on February 28, the Daily Mail reported that two former InfoWars staff members were suing Jones for inappropriate sexual behavior and racial slurs.
Former production assistant Ashley Beckford claims in her legal statements that she was underpaid and under-promoted due to her race and called a “coon” by a senior manager. She also claims that Jones and other senior managers commonly leered at women in the office, making sexual gestures and advances. She writes that Jones, while pretending to be sympathetic about an incident, groped her butt while giving her a “side-hug” and laughed to others in the room, “Who wouldn't want to have a black wife?”
Another former employee, Rod Jacobson, claims that Jones jokingly called him “the resident Jew,” the “Jewish individual” and “Yacobson,” as well as “beefcake,” referring to his sexual orientation.
I have no trouble believing any of this, but if you want to check the documents filed by Beckford and Jacobson, the Daily Mail story has them.
Next, as CBS reports, Jones freaked out on the night of Mar. 3, claiming that YouTube was about to terminate his account on Mar. 4, though YouTube says they have no plans to do that—yet. In December, YouTube announced it would hire 10,000 moderators to remove fake or misleading videos. It has a three-strike policy with an appeals process.
The Daily Mail reports in a more recent story that Jones got to strike number two by saying that Parkland shooting survivor and activist David Hogg was an actor in a video that was taken down.
Next, CNN piled on by contacting advertisers who had no idea their ads were being shown on InfoWars, causing a number of them to cancel.
CNN has discovered ads on InfoWars' channels from companies and organizations such as Nike (NKE), Acer, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Network, the Mormon Church, Moen, Expedia (EXPE), Alibaba (BABA), HomeAway, Mozilla, the NRA, Honey, Wix and ClassPass.
Even an ad for USA for UNHCR, a group that supports the UN refugee agency UNHCR, asking for donations for Rohingya refugees was shown on an InfoWars YouTube channel.
Many of the brands -- including Nike, Moen, Expedia, Acer, ClassPass, Honey, Alibaba and OneFamily -- have suspended ads on InfoWars' channels after being contacted by CNN for comment.
I give Alex, oh… let’s say a month, before he hits strike three. You know he will. Screeching flaming bullshit is his brand, his public identity, his calling… his life.
If he does indeed get silenced, it’s a win politically, as he is a Trump supporter and friend, as well as a big improvement in the quality of the public discourse. Watch this guy for five minutes and you’ll see he should be in a psych ward, not on anyone’s screen.
One less liar is good for America and the world.
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I’m a SMWM (single mom with mortgage :-) ) who earns every dollar I earn by writing. If you’d like to support my work on DKos, please consider sending a donation my way. Suggested amount $3. THANK YOU to all who have done so already. Your generosity humbles me.
Monday, Mar 5, 2018 · 9:29:04 AM +00:00
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Karen Wehrstein
Several commenters have asked something I wondered myself on reading the abuse allegations story: why in heck would anyone, especially a black woman or a gay Jewish man, work for Alex Jones?
I don’t know these people so can only speculate on their motives, but my thought is that they needed jobs because they needed money, as we all do. Maybe InfoWars offers a good health package too.
I can’t imagine it could be anything but bare necessity.