David Hogg, a teenage survivor of the Valentine’s Day mass shooting in Florida that killed 17 people, has trolled Infowars nutritional supplement salesman and radio host Alex Jones and asked to appear on Jones’ show to clear things up with the “shit journalist” who has promoted conspiracy theories about the shooting at Hogg’s high school and other mass shootings.
Jones has spent nearly two weeks advancing the false narrative that the teenagers who survived the shooting and are now advocating for stricter gun laws are “crisis actors.” Jones has also placed blame on CNN and Hogg for recent strikes on his YouTube account on videos about the Parkland shooting survivors. Jones is currently one strike away from being banned on the platform.
Hogg tweeted to Alex Jones and said he’d love to come on Infowars and “clear some of this up because clearly as a shit journalist you can't”:
Hey Alex Jones you seem to be really confused as to what I do/who I am I'd love to come on and clear some of this up because clearly as a shit journalist you can't clearly.
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) February 27, 2018
Jones accepted the offer and asked Hogg to directly message his account in order to set up an interview:
Hi David, it would be fantastic for you to come on. I would be very thankful for that. I want to set the record straight and clear things up between you and I. https://t.co/uHeDxX7Ir8
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) February 27, 2018
On today’s episode of “The Alex Jones Show,” Jones complained that Hogg had insinuated he was a “fat, ugly person” and made fun of him on Twitter. Jones said Hogg is “clearly trying to bait me” and that Infowars didn’t expect Hogg to appear on the show.
“We know that CNN, from research we’ve got, is advising him and the rest of it. So, that’s just how it is. So the young man, 18-year-old man, he can have us banned, play the victim, and then sit there on his Twitter to—close to 300,000, or is it more than 300,000—followers and defame me and lie about me and say whatever he wants,” Jones said.
As BuzzFeed’s Charlie Warzel reported, many of the survivors of the Parkland school shooting have successfully disarmed and combated the conspiracy theorists and right-wing pundits working to discredit them.
Update: Alex Jones has formally challenged Hogg to a debate.
Alex Jones Challenges @DavidHogg111 to a Debate pic.twitter.com/8Rob0dOmmt
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) February 27, 2018
