Several events around that time quickly became fodder for Jones’ early conspiracies and rants about government cover ups. Jones was born in Dallas in 1974 and later moved with his family to Austin, which is where he got his start in the 1990s hosting a call-in show on Austin Community Public Access Television.
(Sergio Flores/Hearst Media) Sergio Flores/For Hearst Connecticut Media Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis are suing Alex Jones and InfoWars over his repeated claims that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a "false flag operation" conducted by the government. “He had this sort of history of trying to get attention and saying what needed to be said in order to get attention,” said Amy Sanders, a former journalist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin Jones’ rise in Austin counter-cultureĪlex Jones speaks to the media outside the 459th Civil District Court on Tuesday, Aug. Now, however, he said it’s rare to see advertising for Jones around town, and his public image has soured amid his multiple legal battles with Sandy Hook families and embrace of a far-right message.īut Jones got his practice promoting conspiracy theories like the one that has him facing three defamation damages trials in Texas and Connecticut on the Austin airwaves. One coffee shop patron noted years ago it was common to find stickers advertising Infowars plastered to light poles and street signs around town - a kind of satirical homage to the city’s “ Keep Austin Weird” campaign.
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In a series of interviews over the last week, local residents said Jones’ reputation is not what it once was in Austin, the city where he built his first audience by spewing conspiracy theories on local public access television and radio before the internet lifted his ideas and spread them to millions of followers, including powerful figures like former president Donald Trump.