Ben Collins Appointed CEO of Liberal Satire Site The Onion Amid Controversy and Staff Retention Guarantee

The satirical news website The Onion has been acquired by a new company called Global Tetrahedron, and former NBC News “disinformation” reporter Ben Collins is now serving as CEO of the publication. Known for his left-wing political leanings and frequent liberal missives on social media, Collins had threatened to leave journalism in 2024 unless things dramatically changed but has since published only six articles with his byline between April 25, 2023, and April 25, 2024. Critics have accused him of being a self-serving grandstander milking tragedies for personal gain after he appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to discuss the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs and suggested that conservatives didn’t care if transgender people died. Collins was reportedly benched by NBC News from covering Twitter owner Elon Musk over his repeated attacks on the billionaire, a move he lamented after audiences failed to follow warnings about alleged right-wing anti-transgender language, according to mocks aimed at him on conservative social media platforms like Twitter. The Onion was founded in 1988 and is now seen as the liberal version of satirical publication The Babylon Bee. According to a memo from G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller, Global Tetrahedron’s acquisition guarantees that The Onion’s entire staff will be maintained intact in Chicago, something he insisted should happen during negotiations for the sale. This contrasted with Deadspin’s layoff of its complete team earlier last month as a new European company bought the liberal sports blog from G/O Media.