The NRA has a new ad out, and its message is downright bizarre. The video encourages Trump supporters to destroy their TVs with a sledgehammer over “fake news.”
The 39-second spot for NRATV features Grant Stinchfield, a conservative radio host who previously worked for NBC’s local Dallas station, standing over a TV as various excerpts from NBC, CNN, and MSNBC play. Political issues flash on the screen, as well as clips of Alec Baldwin’s Trump parodies and John Oliver criticizing the NRA, repeating endlessly from one station to the next.
That is, until Stinchfield puts on goggles, steps back, and swings the sledgehammer at the TV, breaking it.
“At NRATV, our greatest weapon against the lying fake news media is Truth,” the ad’s YouTube description reads.
Of course, the video quickly kicked up a Twitter storm because it makes no sense. Between the video’s awkward macho demeanor and Stinchfield’s “Socialist Tears’ t-shirt, NRATV’s ad is turning into one hell of a viral fiasco.
https://twitter.com/firescotch/status/963182576033828866
https://twitter.com/pauligirll/status/963145790364434432
He knows that those shows continue broadcasting even if he breaks his tv, right?
— Rocket J Squirrel (@RocketJSkwerel) February 13, 2018
the NRA is destroying their own private property while wearing "socialist tears" t-shirts and I think that level of irony is fucking beautiful pic.twitter.com/UsT9vDp1pS
— caleb ecarma (@calebecarma) February 12, 2018
The NRA’s Latest Ad:
— A Republic, If You Can Keep It (@StevenReyCristo) February 13, 2018
I’ll wear my little brother’s T-shirt and smash my TV with a sledgehammer, with cowboy music playing, then I’ll act all mad and tough…oh yeah, make sure there’s plenty of black people appearing on the TV.
WHAT A CHILD, seriously.pic.twitter.com/4Z1RUwa9B9
It’s almost like the NRA is projecting about “fake news” and “safe spaces.”
https://twitter.com/rollowill/status/963341466239057920
https://twitter.com/MikeScheckles/status/963312182829096960
Plus, doesn’t smashing your TV defeat the whole purpose of the ad?
Wait, if I smash my TV, how do I watch NRA TV?
— Medium Rick (@e46rick) February 12, 2018
This certainly isn’t the first time the NRA has gone viral for its strange ads. In June, one dramatic ad showed an NRA spokeswoman calling on right-wingers to fight the left’s “violence of lies” with the “clenched fist of truth.” Another commercial shocked Twitter users after many thought the NRA vowed to “fist the New York Times,” although this thankfully wasn’t the case.
H/T HuffPost