Alex Jones is defending himself from criticism about his violent remarks about a Democratic congressman by comparing himself to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and claiming his tirades are just “art performance.”

During a March 30 video originally flagged by Media Matters, Jones went on an angry, anti-gay tirade against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). Jones said Schiff “looks like the archetypal cocksucker” and a “fairy” and then said to him about any claims that Jones is colluding with the Russians: “You get in my face with that I’ll beat your goddamn ass, you son of a bitch. You piece of shit. ... Fill your hand”:

ROGER STONE: What we’re hearing from the Democrats both in the House and Senate is red-baiting -- ALEX JONES: That’s on Drudge. STONE: -- fear-mongering -- It is well beyond the point of recklessness, whether it is [Rep.] Adam Schiff [D-CA] who has maligned me or whether it is Senator Mark Warner [D-VA] or whether it is Senator John McCain [R-AZ]. But let me tell you something, Alex, these guys are pussies. They talk a tough game. “We’re going to get Roger Stone in front of the committee.” Gentlemen, ladies, I am ready, I am more than ready -- JONES: In fact, let me say this right now. Let me tell -- I’m not against gay people. OK. I love them, they’re great folks. But Schiff looks like the archetypal cocksucker with those little deer-in-the-headlight eyes and all his stuff. And there’s something about this fairy, hopping around, bossing everybody around, trying to intimidate people like me and you, I want to tell Congressman Schiff and all the rest of them, “Hey listen asshole, quit saying Roger and I” -- and I’ve never used cussing in 22 years but the gloves are off -- “listen you son of a bitch, what the fuck’s your problem? You want to sit here and say that I’m a goddamn, fucking Russian. You get in my face with that I’ll beat your goddamn ass, you son of a bitch. You piece of shit. You fucking goddamn fucker. Listen fuckhead, you have fucking crossed a line. Get that through your goddamn fucking head. Stop pushing your shit. You’re the people that have fucked this country over and gangraped the shit out of it and lost an election. So stop shooting your mouth off claiming I’m the enemy. You got that you goddamn son of a bitch? Fill your hand.” I’m sorry, but I’m done. You start calling me a foreign agent, those are fucking fighting words. Excuse me. STONE: Yeah, I don’t think I have ever been in a campaign in which we disparage the patriotism of our opponents. Now, I’m not going to go there. But I think Adam Schiff has acted irresponsibly and I think he needs to be confronted with his exact words. JONES: He’s sucking globalist dick.

Numerous media outlets criticized and highlighted Jones’ tirade.

In an article posted April 5, Newsweek quoted an attorney who claimed Jones’ comments may constitute a felony. Jones subsequently posted a video attempting to clarify his remarks, claiming he’s actually a leading proponent of nonviolence like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.:

ALEX JONES: We’re going to lose this fight for America if we get violent. I’m one of the biggest proponents of nonviolence, and Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Everybody knows that.

Jones later claimed that his anti-Schiff remarks were “clearly tongue-in-cheek and basically art performance, as I do in my rants, which I admit I do, as a form of art. And they turn that into a premeditated plan that I’m trying to influence that chicken neck Schiff, who has made up all this crap about Trump and Russians, and has been caught lying. Saying that [Susan] Rice wasn’t spying. This guy is a loser. When I say, ‘I’m going to kick your ass,’ it’s the infowar. I say every day we’re going to destroy you with the truth.”

He later said:

ALEX JONES: I just want to be clear: I mean no violence against Mr. Schiff. I know the guy's a liar. I know that he is an attack dog of the Democrats. I know that he's really trying to hurt this country so I dislike him, but I wish no harm on him or his wife or his children or anybody else -- so this is not a retraction, this is a clarification. Yes, I don't want violence. You guys are openly calling for it everywhere so I think then you should ask yourselves what hypocrite planet you woke up on when I say 1/10th of what you said clearly jesting and then you take it as serious and call for my incarceration for six years in federal prison.

Jones also claimed that “everybody knows the compendium of my speech and what I stand for is nonviolent when it comes to offense. I’m all about defense, and everyone knows that. Everyone understands that.”

“Everyone” appears to not include self-described Jones listener Edgar Maddison Welch, who on December 4 entered Comet Ping Pong while wielding an assault weapon to “self-investigate” the false conspiracy theory that the restaurant was helping Hillary Clinton’s campaign traffic children. After patrons and employees fled, Welch fired several shots.

The New York Times interviewed Welch several days after the shooting, and he told the paper that he was a listener of Jones’ show and that Jones “touches on some issues that are viable,” but that sometimes Jones “goes off the deep end.” The criminal complaint against Welch alleged that he shared a YouTube video with the message “Watch PIZZAGATE: The Bigger Picture.” Alex Jones’ website Infowars published a December 1 article with the headline “Pizzagate: The Bigger Picture” which included an Infowars YouTube video. Welch “pleaded guilty [last month] to weapons and assault charges in a deal with U.S. prosecutors.” Jones was pressured to air an apology for his role in spreading the false “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory about Comet Ping Pong last month.

Jones’ “performance art” repeatedly includes violent rhetoric and suggestions of violence against his perceived enemies.