Over the past few years, it has been surprising to watch as The Babylon Bee has gradually moved into the arena long held solely by The Onion. While satire outlets abound, on a national scale The Onion has ruled for years, but that title has been slipping. Humor being as subjective as it is, what is one person’s liking is bound to be contestable, but a couple of realities appear; the Babylon Bee has swelled in size and popularity, and The Onion is no longer as sharp and as biting as it had been in the past.

A sign of this power slide experienced by the established outlet is that its parent company, G/O Media, has sold off many assets. Last month it dumped the spinoff entertainment site of The Onion, The A/V Club, to Paste Magazine, and now the announcement has been made that the humor site has been sold off as well.

The new ownership is a newly formed outfit called Global Tetrahedron, operating in Chicago, where The Onion has long been established. The name is notable, based on a fictional corporation taken from the popular hardcover release years ago published by the site, “Our Dumb Century.” But what is notable about GT is who is behind this enterprise. 

If you follow the press to any degree you are likely familiar with Ben Collins. He has been long at NBC News serving as the correspondent on what he dubbed “the dystopian beat.” This amounted to him carping about Elon Musk while also delivering numerous debunked and inaccurate reports over the years. For the second half of 2023, he has barely filed any reports at the network, and by year's end he hinted at leaving the business entirely. 

Now we possibly know why. Ben has announced he will be the CEO of this new venture.

NEWS: My friends and I now own and run The Onion. I’ll be the CEO.

We’re keeping the entire staff, bringing back The Onion News Network, and share the wealth with staff.

Basically, we’re going to let them do whatever they want. Get excited.https://t.co/CQtWzFHn4A

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) April 25, 2024

Jeff Lawson is a cofounder of Twilio, a tech commerce company that has been languishing and from which he stepped down as CEO in January.

The gang at @TheOnion is probably operating in full confidence, given its new owners come from Twilio, and the new CEO is the never-known-to-be-amusing Ben @OneUnderscore_ Collins. pic.twitter.com/mM947p3Amd

— Brad Slager - Scrubbing Down In a Bloodbath (@MartiniShark) April 29, 2024

Now, it is far too early to make anything as far as a call about the fortunes of the humor outlet, but the signs of prosperity have yet to present themselves. The first sign was Collins declaring that he was not firing anyone and he was allowing the staff to operate off the leash. Yeah…if anything, this is a staff that has drifted from their past glories and could use a bit of management. 

We leave it to you whether recent pieces on the NBA’s Victor Wibamyama’s head getting stuck in the net, or that ants had carried off Joe Biden are to be considered funny. But the material seen following the commencement of the Ben Collins era can be considered subpar. For one, there was the demonstrably unfunny pleading for people to sign up with subscriptions.

Heckuva business plan. pic.twitter.com/v64zm6Btsh

— Brad Slager - Scrubbing Down In a Bloodbath (@MartiniShark) April 29, 2024

Then there was this attempt at “humor” that is just crass desperation (Warning: Crude sexuality on display - here). Implying that a mother was keenly jealous of the sex her daughter was promised to have, and even commenting on an ensuing pregnancy in covetous fashion, is less than lowbrow humor; it is 1970’s era National Lampoon-style crudeness.

If this is what we can expect from the new overlords, it will be a short run, for certain.