The Onion Files Tremendous Supreme Court Brief to Protect Free Speech

In a court case involving the infringement of a man's First Amendment rights over a parody Facebook page, The Onion decided to file an amicus brief to help the man get justice.
Free Speech needs to win.
Grab some whiskey and join me.
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[@longleglarry2720]

The onion standing up for free speech sounds like something the onion would write about.

[@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783]

*the above alleged article was sponsored in whole or part by the ACLU and chabad lubivich 😁🤣😂

[@Ticklestein]

Just do a KZbin search for “The Onion Al Qaeda” and you know the legends they used to be. They did 9/11 conspiracies (and/or) jokes in 2008.

[@Chodaboy65]

Johnny Carson used to crack jokes at the expense of both parties. And it was funny. Intellectual comedy is on life-support.

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

Johnny Carson was a legend. Actual comedy. I'll still catch one of his old reruns every once in a while.

[@greebj]

Because each side only notices the bits that parody their side. So they think it's biased. Those of us who completely eschew group identity and "belong" to nothing, get to laugh at everything

[@boomerwow8482]

I remember an onion skit that was a congressman reading the patriot act trying to show that it was pretty standard legislation and he kept stopping and saying things like “Jesus Christ” along the way. At first I thought it was real cause i had never heard of the onion but it was so funny

[@johnduquette7023]

My favorite is the one about paleontologists finding the fossil of the oldest known sexual predator.

[@AdrianCruz_]

Wow even older than Joe Biden?

[@johnduquette7023]

@@AdrianCruz_ Yes, older than Biden. Not older than Pelosi, though.

[@RohanSpartin]

@@johnduquette7023 Who's older? Pelosi or The Crypt Keeper?

[@johnduquette7023]

@@RohanSpartin Pelosi remembers when everyone thought crypts were a fad, so I think you have your answer.

[@YobieTheQuestioner]

I had a gullible friend I used to send the Onion articles to and he would always believe it lol.

[@soujemn5]

His name, Sam Hyde

[@suran396]

Two years ago (almost exactly, ) our family purchased a new puppy. I told a woke-because-she's-gullible friend, (I call her my "flavor of the month girl," ) that the litter had 5 puppies (true,) .... 4 were male and one was trans and we took the trans puppy. She thought that was pretty cool.

[@bickdig1297]

@Mike Byrne fight the good fight Mike! fuck this reality

[@GR-pv5jx]

"...because everybody laughs at a fart joke, eventually. It's a rule of physics." - Nick the Pope Oh, I wished I had paid attention to that part of my physics class.

[@dash_r_media]

The Onion is still occasionally funny, but not nearly what they once were.

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

I mean, it comes with the territory of parodying reality - we're beyond parody now. We live in a world where someone with brain damage can be elected over a competent.

[@keres993]

@@MrJoeyWheeler Meanwhile the Babylon Bee is consistently funny

[@GenesHand]

@@keres993 hell naw, the onion may align with the other side politically but they are at least funny from time to time. The Babylon bee has always been the most unfunny shit I've ever seen.

[@muffin2147]

They started to fall off-and almost disappear-around 2016/17

[@ShawnKavanagh]

​@@MrJoeyWheeler This world has provided us with so much extraneous content It's hard to keep up, and above it all

[@orenmontgomery8250]

Nick throwing a few old clips up to YT just to remind everyone he's still very active on Rumble.

[@MattAK]

This is the first time in a long, long time that something The Onion has written made me laugh out loud. Good job.

[@AliRadicali]

This isn't just a return to form, this is probably the single best thing the Onion has ever produced. Not only does it have the sort of biting wit their articles lost about ten years ago, it is also an incredibly pertinent legal document. The fact that they managed to writer a parody legal brief which nevertheless presents the legal and moral argument for parody is just chef's kiss.

[@IndefatigableYT]

I remember telling my friends about an onion article before I understood it was parody. My smart friends told me... I'm dumb. I've since made sure to corroborate multiple sources when I read something outrageous. It's unfortunate that we seem to think that the solution for truth is not to teach people to think critically and validate sources, but instead to censor what we believe to be untrue. Censorship is actively removing the need and impetus for critical thought, and it's making society dumber for it.

[@aa-yt7wo]

The Grabbler bit the onion did was both funny and true

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

The public education system is doing a great job of making society dumber. Social media is just as bad.

[@suran396]

Hey, Eric! But now you know!

[@likwidsun2303]

This needs more likes!

[@FLSonshine]

@@likwidsun2303 Yes it does! 🗳🗳🗳🗳 (these "votes" look like tissue boxes.) 👍👍👍👍👍✅✅✅✅

[@larrybud]

Glad to see the Onion returning to writing something funny!

[@ChurchOfTheHolyMho]

A co-worker played a recording of a radio talk show. An HOA manager wanted to place cameras looking in all the neighborhood homes' bedroom windows, to ensure residents were not bringing home riff raff or people of ill repute - violating HOA rules. The panelists were split on if it was a good idea. Eventually the host and panelists changed from being skeptics into believing it was a great idea... Then they took calls from the public. All the calls from the public were furious - and making every argument possible to try to sway the host back to their side... But the host and panelists agreed that HOA managers should be able to monitor your bedroom activities on video. It was insane... And then my co-worker spilled the beans... Phil Hendrie is a character voice actor, who was the host, the panel, and the HOA manager... He was every character except the irate callers in their cars on the way home... which is why the callers could never win an argument. Brilliant comedy. ...and it would not work if the call-in commuters knew they were being pranked.

[@suran396]

Sadly, today it would be a true story.

[@fatelvisjr3808]

Dude 3 years ago i got a new position taking over for this dude who was doing the job for the past 30 years. His office at the warehouse i took over was covered wall to wall in 90s and 2000s onion front pages and articles. I was never into the onion cuz since the time I was self aware the onion was never relevant. I honestly can't believe how hilarious that old onion shit was cuz as I understand it they were always Madison WI liberals but I guess it's true they say the old libs were cut from a different cloth.

[@asii_k]

If you haven’t seen them their videos from the mid to late 2000s are hilarious too. They so perfectly nail cable news

[@bungalowlogic7676]

True, Madison, WI is very liberal. Similarly, The Harvard Lampoon (precursor to Nat. Lampoon, SNL) came out of the Ivy Leagues, mid-Atlantic progressive area. What is lost on those purporting to be today's satirists is that they are now the Emperors being told they are sans clothing. The Progressives are on top and the satire is aimed at them from a different corner of the Culture. I've noticed the same effect in the comedy/improv scene around Chicago's Second City (which has been in partnership with The Onion for some time). Let's hope this is a sign that things are a-changing.

[@Snakedude4life]

The onion used to be funny and then it got slowly taken over by people who wanted to make political takes over being funny. Even unfunny people have a right to speak. 🎩 🐍 no step on snek! 🇺🇸🇭🇰

[@pauperslament3467]

Sum, is that you?

[@Snakedude4life]

@@pauperslament3467 Different guy.

[@marcusdonahue7124]

@@Snakedude4life no, it's you. Condescending doesnt equal funny, and ridiculous something you know nothing about doesn't make you intelligent.

[@Snakedude4life]

@@marcusdonahue7124 Do you want to try that sentence again or should I just go ahead and sus you out as a moron?

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

You just know Clarence Thomas would get a chuckle out of this! I did, it was one of the first funny but precise onion things I've heard about in a while.

[@marcusblicher9925]

Something something broken clock being right once in a while. Sometimes even the Onion gets it right, and oh boy does this toll loudly

[@B.L.S.]

The Onion used to be very funny. This brief is also extremely funny.

[@lastfirst5863]

For me the brief is exceptional because of how light it is on jargon, they clearly thought it was important for anyone to be able to understand it and it works. I could read this briefing myself if I wasn’t at work and all I would lose is comprehension of some of the lawyer jokes Rekieta picks up for us.

[@LJSmith-ks6ge]

The lack of understanding on this genre and the lack of knowledge on how to critically think through things is a glaring spotlight on education institutions. They're not teaching people how to think, they're teaching people what to think.

[@invader_jim2837]

Critical Thought is a threat to democracy or something to that effect.

[@glorfification]

Onion should post this on their website, they might convince some of their old readers to give them a chance again.

[@GoodLawgic]

First!

[@jamesk7256]

Wow Joe, I should have known you were the type of dude to post "FIRST!!!" in the comments section.

[@hickorydickory]

YES, YOU ARE A FUCKED UP ALCOHOLIC ALSO

[@TheStonerKoala]

​@@jamesk7256 indeed, what a terrible terrible man. He can't keep getting away with it.

[@huntergrant6520]

The onion has always been nailing it and continues to do so. The hell are you talking about?

[@lghtngfan]

As someone who did their 11th grade English term paper on satire, I salute The Onion for this amazing brief. The only thing that would have made it better would be if The Onion would have swallowed their pride and mentioned The Babylon Bee's removal from Twitter.

[@sevret313]

Babylon doesn't do satire, they do transphobia and gaslights people into believing they're a satire site.

[@joscpe]

I thought Amica briefs were a Bredehoft specialty

[@NicolaMaxwell]

🤣🤣

[@diablobutai839]

This is possibly one of the best briefs ever written, simply because it's making fun of the court lmfao

[@trigremlin]

"its kinda funny that they wrote that article in 2017" and thats why I love you Rackets, calling out both sides and all in between when they deserve it.

[@Thedarkbunnyrabbit]

It seems the Onion is smart enough to recognize that the people they like will not always be in control, and so they want to be free to mock the people they don't like in the future. More people should keep that in mind: the people you like will not always be the ones with the power you give them.

[@forgingluck]

Yellow is the new green. Babylon bee > onion

[@ShawnKavanagh]

The resurgencing of the onion crop? 🙃

[@jestermoment2267]

It's getting to the point where the news has become so absurd that news stories need to have a label "This is REAL, this is NOT fiction" attached to them! 🤪🤡🌎

[@Mr.Batsu12]

I think the end of this clip has one of the most important aspects of parody. Those who are given positions of power over the lives of others in their country deserve the LEAST amount of protection against those who criticize them and their actions. Those who have the power to police, govern, imprison or even execute others should be able to have their actions critiqued by those they have power over. Not that people in these positions have no protection against any defamation, just less.

[@barrylorand5349]

The onion has been detached from the real ground for quite awhile . It is not surprising to me that the onion is surprised about people being tread upon by the government.

[@angstandvexed]

The funniest thing the Onion might be remembered for is a legal document, now that is comedy.

[@skeletalobserver406]

The onion brief actually made me laugh more than a few times and kept me amused and engaged throughout. I gotta hand it to them, knocked it out of the park. 10/10 i hope they get a fat W on this one

[@AliRadicali]

I will definitely be re-listening to this video in the future because the Onion brief is just hilarious. Good on The Onion for not just standing up for free speech, but doing so in such a subversive and funny way.

[@saerain]

This is an historic work of art.

[@theminister1154]

Yes, but if the standard of parody = somewhat funnier or funnier article which merges into reality later, the Bee MINCES the Onion. I am tempted to say it's not the Onion's fault 'cause the modern authoritarian Left is a self-parody in the first place, then I remember that the Onion _could write anti-L stories but doesn't_ because they are a bunch of Harvard shitbags. Wouldn't play at cocktail parties.

[@MrPingn]

Wow, a rare gem of comedy from The Onion. I'll take it. Hope the guy wins. Getting arrested for that is insane.

[@superscatboy]

Just earlier today I had a conversation about The Onion, the main theme of which was "I wonder whatever happened to The Onion". I thought they'd died and been reincarnated as The Babylon Bee.

[@CraneArmy]

you might be missing a point nick increasingly, people feel violated that they were caused laughter by a fart joke ...and someone needs to be held accountable

[@FONIXFLAMES]

The onion did political satire of the whole shit and they did it beautifully their early skits on youtube are still gold

[@shiftyjedi3417]

First they came for the Bee, the Onion said nothing. They came for the Onion, but eventually a funny brief won’t be enough

[@SomeCanine]

Respect to The Onion for doing this. It's both a genius semi-satirical filing and brave for them to stand up to a left-wing government as left-wingers themselves.

[@Stormeris]

Onion used to be fun before they all got severe TDS

[@SaltStorm007]

This is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS 💯😂Thank you for this, Nick!

[@fal1026]

Someone is trying to carry the onion on their back & refused to stop.

[@manders7868]

And good to see The Nose posting here again.

[@johnnieivester3783]

Thanks!

[@fragwagon]

I remember reading the Onion when it was a newspaper.

[@joeb1125]

Where have I been, obviously living life without Rekieta Law for a few days. Forgive me this is AWESOME! God I love this!

[@chairgraveyard4790]

When you laughed at the "Abortionplex" headline and said "The Onion isn't supposed to be funny!" I had exactly the same reaction. They must have been doing trite "orange man bad" headlines for the last 6 years just so they could pour all their comedy into this brief lmao

[@highfist6754]

That was awesome. Thanks for showing us Nick.

[@Bill_Dippertly]

Nick is just a good ass lawyer, making off the cuff arguments that would take another lawyer days to prepare.

[@jamesk7256]

The last time The Onion was funny was when they had the 9/11 Subway ad.

[@tealou]

hahaha that is amazing. When they get it right, they get it right.

[@Vidyut_Gore]

My first thought when I read this, and every time I read it: Damn! I wish I wrote it.

[@Leisurelee53]

Sometimes, an ember is sparked, and can revive the flame of something that was once passion.

[@OmniscientWarrior]

I remember the 2012 article. It was a might fine horse. But they still haven't named the man riding him.

[@polkalamypekopeko2969]

Only when it hurts them did they try to get something done.

[@T3nch1]

And now we wait for the Babylon Bee response to be posted.

[@whatdowedomeow6373]

Yeah I kinda forgot The Onion still existed lol learning something new everyday.

[@bandgeekforlife406]

That was, indeed, pretty darn funny. Scalia would have loved it :P

[@Myne1001]

The Onion News Network; keeping you safe from the lies

[@scottski02]

If this is the Onion's redemption arc, I am here for it.

[@jimd8008]

Thank you again

[@DesignRhythm]

Wow that was incredible.. thanks for sharing.

[@Rareplymouth]

Comedy is a necessity to keep reality from driving people crazy. Take my Worf...please.

[@DroLeo420]

I don't even know what amicus cream is

[@frod79]

I do miss the Onion's Herbert Kornfeld editorials but that's about it.

[@tobyalting]

4.3 trillion?! That's practically 2 more than Alex Jones! Talk about huffing your own gas!

[@chairgraveyard4790]

The defendant's parodies were hilarious too

[@TheSilversepiroth]

To be fair, would you really be *THAT* surprised if a police department in California or New York had a workshop to take fans of the playground off the registry?

[@thetruth45678]

Ask me again in six months.

[@JoeSmith-lp8fl]

Wasn't some old woman arrested in Arizona for feeding homeless people in a public park? (For real, pretty sure that happened.)

[@blank157]

KZbin is trying to gaslight me into thinking I didn’t see what I’ve seen!!!!!

[@9165RADIOS]

Brilliant

[@CLCasual]

That explains it, I definitely remember them being way funnier, before they lost their spine and couldn't stand against the left wing cancellation squads. They were saving the funny for something important.

[@williamstrong3146]

This is great!

[@fallon3136]

Really great 😃

[@Sgt_SealCluber]

Ah, the good old days when it was just "The Onion" and not "The Leftwing Baby Lawn Bee". (TouYube doesn't like me saying their name or the B)

[@Arassar]

Babylon Bee is shadow banned?

[@mathphysicsnerd]

@@Arassar Not quite-this is conditional identity filtering. It is similar to shadow bans in that it renders only the posting account to see the post, but it fine-tunes the banned posts to ones that contain certain phrases, characters, attached filetypes or hyperlinks. It can be thought of as the comment system checking if a comment fulfills "flagged user AND flagged content", then shadowbanning/deleting the comment. It appears to be the same detection system used to find comments that contain external hyperlinks, even disguised ones.

[@Sgt_SealCluber]

@@Arassar They are really weird about certain words and it also seems to be differences account to account. I used to not be able to say "racist" for awhile while others could, as an example.

[@gracesprocket7340]

The US court ruiling on the EPA case means you can now safely side-step that filtering by henceforth referring to the Babylon Fish.

[@Chvelle68]

What was the guy charged and convicted of? Did he serve any time in jail?

[@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783]

Saw this awhile back and it's just RICH!!!

[@vidabing]

Glad yt didn’t delete this. It’s hilarious 👏😂😎

[@owenspalding971]

I'm still upset the MacBook Wheel never made it to the public.

[@furioni333]

The onion? I haven't heard of that site for centuries.

[@tinman3926]

The Onion finely found a pearl.

[@P4ndieEy3ss]

Elon requiring parody accounts label their account as such is very breaded.

[@DM-mi4je]

It will take decade for the Onion to recharge on its one written piece that's good.

[@blindtrace7220]

Nice work.

[@Kernwadi]

"Oxygen is subjective." -Bilbo Baggins

[@RichardPhillips1066]

The onion is part of a media group that includes Kotaku

[@lazyman7505]

Traitor came back!

[@ToBeFlair]

This is soooooooo good. What a wonderful review! Stay unbreaded and keep protecting the Constitution, Mr. Rekieta!

[@suran396]

Really enjoyed this. Thanks Nick.

[@remo27]

The Babylon Bee also made a funny brief. No surprise the 'news' doesn't even deign to mention that.

[@ericsfishingadventures4433]

The Babylon bees was better imo. They filed a brief to the scotus a few days ago. Don't know if it's just a peeing contest or if they're both actually for real. I actually hope they are because what's happening to the 1st amendment in this country is despicable!

[@kathleenjeter]

I sent a yearly subscription to my soon to be in laws many years ago.... I very quickly found out that they had no sense of humor what so ever!

[@christesterman]

Parody = Troll If you can't tell the difference then you disserve to believe it and thus the con is born.

[@NeuroSpiceAbee]

This is GOLD

[@Ghostprint]

this is perfect

[@davidaffholter4683]

Perfect

[@qntkka]

Parma? That is the home of Ghoulardie and The Ghoul!

[@thebestian]

Best court brief I've ever read, and I haven't liked the onion since the minotaur days.

[@DeplorableBitterClinger]

They kind of lost me when they described themselves as "humorists"

[@huddunlap3999]

I still like the article where the head of NASA was using the space shuttle for personal use.