Ex-staffers describe Infowars' 'unhinged' and 'volatile' workplace.

  • 📰 BusinessInsider
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 118 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 51%
  • Publisher: 51%

Business Business Headlines News

Inside Infowars' crumbling empire: Ex-Staffers reveal the 'volatile' and 'unhinged' atmosphere working for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

For some Infowars staffers the job was a chance to learn from a charismatic radio figure and hopefully break into the industry themselves, even if they weren't true believers. One such employee, George, who requested to use a pseudonym because he feared retribution from Jones, began working for the site in the late 2000s with aspirations of one day having his own radio show.

"I would just be giggling my ass off because I was like, 'This guy's a joke.' The stuff that he would say and the way he was so animated, it was like theatrical to me. I just thought it was hilarious man," George said. George recalled thinking at the time:"Jones, come on, man, you're really gonna exploit these old folks like that? That's fucked-up."

"It went from him being really nice to me and like, showing me a lot of love … to just being an asshole and treating me like he did everyone else," George said."Once he had someone and felt like he had control of them, then he would just be an ass." "Alex would do weird things," Jacobson said."I believe he made his parents uncomfortable. A lot of the time he'd act strangely at the dinner table, you know, say odd things and whatnot."

In August of that year, Jones invited David Duke, the former grand wizard of the KKK, who was gearing up to run for the Senate from Louisiana, on Infowars. By the end of his tenure, Jacobson's worldview had also shifted. He'd been reading books like"1776," a chronicle of the revolutionary war by historian David McCullough and other mainstream history books in an attempt to debunk them with perspectives more aligned with Jones. But eventually the books became more compelling to Jacobson. "I would actually find other books to read inside the bibliographies," he said.

"You cannot say that this did not happen. You cannot say that people didn't die. Like, you can't do that," Jordan said he told Jones, adding that Jones responded with indifference.Jacobson also said he challenged Jones about promoting the false claims. "The job search went on for a long, long time. And you know, at that point, I mean, Alex, the relationship between me and Alex really was horrible," he said.

"I really did have a fear of not being able to find another job knowing what Alex was up to. I was like what sane group of media professionals will hire me?" he said. "These people have guns and they're no joke. They're absolutely infatuated with Alex. They worship him. It's an irrational level of commitment they give to Alex and an irrational level of trust," he said.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 729. in BUSİNESS

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Gen Z likes shopping in stores just as much as online: surveyInsider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

Radio host sues OpenAI, says ChatGPT created fake legal doc about himA radio host is suing OpenAI for defamation, alleging that ChatGPT created a false legal document that accused him of 'defrauding and embezzling funds'
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

Elon Musk really wants a liberal TV host to balance out Tucker CarlsonElon Musk is asking big name liberal TV hosts like Rachel Maddow to move their shows to Twitter to balance out Tucker Carlson
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

Target foot traffic up after Pride collection blowbackInsider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »