Alex Jones of Infowars retracts slurs against Chobani and an Idaho city
Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has settled a lawsuit with yogurt company Chobani after spreading false information about the company and the city of Twin Falls, Idaho.
Chobani filed a defamation suit against Jones last month after he posted stories about a wave of refugee-fueled crime and disease in Twin Falls, the Idaho city where Chobani opened a factory in 2012. According to a Los Angeles Times report, the key component of the settlement was for Jones to retract statements he made about Chobani and Twin Falls.
“During the week of April 10, 2017, certain statements were made on the Infowars feed and YouTube channel regarding Chobani, LLC that I now understand to be wrong. The tweets and video have now been retracted, and will not be reposted,” Jones said in the apology video. “On behalf of Infowars, I regret that we mischaracterized Chobani, its employees and the people of Twin Falls, Idaho, the way we did.”
“The case has been resolved,” a Chobani spokesman told Yahoo News. The terms were not disclosed.
Twin Falls has accepted refugees since the 1980s, recently settling approximately 300 per year. Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya is an immigrant from Turkey who has been a supporter of refugees, hiring many at his factories. After a 5-year-old girl was assaulted last summer by three school-age immigrants, right-wing media sensationalized the story, calling it a gang rape at knifepoint by Syrians — when there was no rape, knife or Syrians.. Those same outlets began to portray Twin Falls as a wasteland of crime and disease.
Jones promised to make this a signature cause: “I’m going to be going to Idaho. I’m going to go on that local radio station. I’m going to bring investigative crews there. I am going to show what the locals are doing. I am going to show the Islamists getting off of the planes. You want a fight? You better believe, baby, you’ve got one.”
“I’m choosing this as a battle,” said Jones last month in response to the suit. “On this I will stand, I will win, or I will die.”
Yahoo News reported from Twin Falls last week, as the thriving community with an unemployment rate hovering around three percent passed a resolution to name itself a “welcoming city,” and dedicated a new flagpole at the area refugee center.
Jones apologized in March for promoting the “Pizzagate” conspiracy, which suggested that Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was involved in a child sex ring based in a Washington, D.C., restaurant. In December, a North Carolina man who said he was investigating the claim fired shots inside the restaurant. Following his arrest, he told the New York Times he had listened to Jones’ show.
