Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $45.2 million to the parents of a child who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
This is in addition to the $4.1 million the Infowars host must pay for the suffering he put them through by claiming for years that the US’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax.
The total — $49.3 million — is less than the $150 million sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.
But the trial marks the first time Jones has been held financially liable for peddling lies about the massacre, claiming it was faked by the government to tighten gun laws.
Ms Lewis said that Jones has been held accountable. She said when she took the stand and looked Jones in the eye, she thought of her son, who was credited with saving lives by yelling “run” when the killer paused in his rampage.
“He stood up to the bully Adam Lanza and saved nine of his classmates’ lives,” Lewis said.
“I hope that I did that incredible courage justice when I was able to confront Alex Jones, who is also a bully. I hope that inspires other people to do the same.”
Jones used his media platform to spread lies about the tragedy to millions of listeners, claiming it was staged by actors in a “false flag” plot by the media.
The parents gave evidence during the trial that Jones’ followers had harassed them for years following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, sending death threats in the false belief they were lying about their son’s death.
Ms Lewis told Jones directly: “It seems so incredible to me that we have to do this — that we have to implore you to get you to stop lying.”
When his turn came on the witness stand, Jones acknowledged he had spread misinformation, saying the shooting was “100 per cent real”.
