Move over, JK Rowling. There's a new bestseller knocking Harry Potter off the top of the book lists, and it's by InfoWars host and beleaguered far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Just kidding! That is absolutely not true by any stretch of the imagination. But it is what Jones claimed in a bizarre diatribe on white nationalist Steven Crowder's show Louder With Crowder this week.
According to Jones, the reason you've probably never heard of his new book, The Great Reset, and definitely haven't seen it on any bestseller lists, is because he's being silenced by The New York Times, or something like that. Honestly, it was hard to follow his word salad.
But what he definitely did say is that he's sold more copies than "any Harry Potter book."
\u201cAlex Jones claims he sells more books than Harry Potter in on-air rant https://t.co/hyeknfXB5W\u201d— indy100 (@indy100) 1663190290
Jones told Crowder that The New York Times admitted to his publisher that it would never list an Alex Jones book on its all-important Best Seller list, which is a strange thing for the Times to say since many other far-right figures have made the list before, not to mention that saying such a thing to a publisher would leave the Times vulnerable to a lawsuit. It's enough to make you think Jones might be making this up!
Anyway, if it weren't for the Times dissing him, Jones would be #1 on the list, you see. As he told Crowder:
"So there were books that were like, number 19, 15, you name it on the New York Times Best Seller List that we sold 10, 15, 20 times more books than those. So we should have been number one."
Jones added that those figures are before you even factor in online sales at Amazon and his website. Once you add in those numbers, he even beats Harry Potter!
"So it is the number one book, not just fiction, not just non-fiction — all of them. More than any textbook, more than any Harry Potter book."
Just for comparison's sake, the first volume of the Harry Potter series has sold approximately 120 million copies and is currently the #5 best-selling book of all time. Like, in the entire history of books.
But Alex Jones' book apparently beat that—and in just the two weeks since its August 30 release, no less. Wow!
If this sounds unbelievable to you, you are definitely not alone. Lots of people on Twitter were like "LOL sure, Alex."
\u201cAlex Jones, madder than any box of frogs. https://t.co/UPd377135n\u201d— PeteMilford (@PeteMilford) 1663275777
\u201cCompared to Alex Jones, Harry Potter is non-fiction.\u201d— Kevin McGrath (@Kevin McGrath) 1663191454
\u201c@Independent\u201d— The Independent (@The Independent) 1663202431
\u201cTbf on the guy, he's a master at fantasy\u201d— The Human CentiPeeb (@The Human CentiPeeb) 1663247450
\u201c@Independent He simply has to lie, he can\u2019t tell the truth. A simple look at book sales figs would shut him up, but then he lies and says the publisher is blocking his book. If we proved the publisher wasn\u2019t, it would be the media, the price of paper, the type setters union, or google itself.\u201d— The Independent (@The Independent) 1663244215
\u201cIsn't one of those books literally on the top 10 best selling books of all time?\u201d— Dazawassa (@Dazawassa) 1663245177
\u201c@Independent People stocking up or the next toilet paper shortage. \ud83d\ude09\u201d— The Independent (@The Independent) 1663202431
\u201c@Independent Alex Jones also claimed Sandy Hook didn\u2019t happen.\u201d— The Independent (@The Independent) 1663202431
\u201c#AlexJonesTrial #SandyHook \n\nSo you CAN afford to pay all the parents of sandy hook\n\nAlex Jones claims his new book has sold more copies than \u2018any Harry Potter\u2019 https://t.co/WP3w5m0F7x\u201d— Cuddy Wifter (@Cuddy Wifter) 1663263449