A regular host on Alex Jones’ inflammatory Infowars site appeared to call for the lynching of former President Barack Obama in an episode posted on YouTube. J. Owen Shroyer said Obama was “treasonous,” adding: “Find the tallest tree and a rope.”
The video, posted Tuesday on YouTube, was still available on the site late Thursday before it was removed by YouTube after complaints. The video was also promoted on Shroyer’s Twitter account.
In the “War Room” segment of Infowars, Shroyer declared: “Obama is treasonous. He belongs in jail, he belongs in Guantanamo Bay.”
“I mean, look,” he added, “I’m not saying this should happen, but Barack Obama, you know, find the tallest tree and a rope.”
Infowars and Alex Jones were banned last year by YouTube, Apple, Facebook and Twitter for violating policies concerning hate speech. But the “War Room” video was apparently posted to YouTube by followers.
YouTube’s policies are supposed to prohibit videos that incite others to commit violence against individuals or a group of people. YouTube did not immediately reply to a request for comment from HuffPost.
An angry Shroyer in a tweet Thursday blamed “mainstream media, anti-American leftists and Communists” for driving Infowars — and him — off social media platforms. He did not address his comments about Obama.
Both Jones and Shroyer are being sued for defamation by parents of children killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The conspiracy theorists have claimed that the children and parents were “actors” in a “staged” shooting and that no one was actually killed. Parents say they’ve become the relentless targets of hate messages and death threats from Jones’ followers.
In a court filing Monday, lawyers representing Sandy Hook parents said Jones’ defense team sent them “numerous images of illegal child pornography,” apparently by mistake. An attorney for the parents immediately alerted the FBI.
