Alex Jones and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had a less than amicable exchange outside of Wednesday's Senate hearing on social media accountability. Video footage of the incident shows Jones interrupted Rubio in the hallway during an interview to demand a response to the online plight of Infowars.
One after another, major tech companies and streaming platforms have purged content and channels from Jones and his conspiracy theory-laden website Infowars over the past month. Facebook "unpublished" four of Jones' pages for "repeated violations of community standards." Apple removed five out of the six Infowars podcasts from its Podcasts app, saying "Apple does not tolerate hate speech." YouTube began by taking down four Infowars videos before terminating Jones' channel, which had 2.4 million subscribers. Spotify also removed one of Jones' podcasts.
In the video, posted to social media, Jones approached Rubio, who was surrounded by members of the media, and touched the Republican senator's shoulder. "They're lying about me and trying to de-platform me," Jones said, adding that he is being denied his First Amendment right and Democrats are trying to "ban conservatives en masse."
"I don't know anything about your site, man," Rubio replied nonchalantly, but visibly caught off guard by Jones. "I support the First Amendment," he continued, referring to the hearings that both men had just left. "I just asked questions about it." (Jones was seated in the front row for at least a portion of the hearings Wednesday.)
Rubio tried to re-focus the interview back to his concerns about the censorship of dissenting opinions, especially by "authoritarian governments." But Jones interjected: "But what about the Democrats purging conservatives?"
When Rubio tried to continue the interview, ignoring Jones, the Infowars creator continued: "He's not answering. The Republicans are acting like it isn't happening. Thank God Trump is!"
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"Is that a heckler at a press gaggle?" Rubio joked. "I just don't know who you are, man. I don't read your website."
But Jones would not back down. "That's why you didn't get elected," he said to the senator. "Marco Rubio, the snake. Little frat boy here . . . He knows who Infowars is, playing this joke over here. The de-platforming didn't work," Jones continued and patted Rubio on the shoulder, before security removed his hand.
"Don't touch me again, man," Rubio responded, backing away. "I don't want to be touched by you, I don't know who you are."
When Jones suggested that Rubio wanted to get him arrested, Rubio said, "You're not going to get arrested, I'll take care of you myself."
"You are literally like a little gangster thug," Jones taunted. "Rubio just threatened to physically take care of me."
Eventually, Rubio decided to leave the interview and said the press could talk to "this clown," referring to Jones, if they pleased. "Go back to your bathhouse," Jones shouted at him as he walked away.
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