Thoughts and Prayers to Human Garbage Fire Dana Loesch and NRATV

Dana Loesch is the embodiment of the worst elements of the NRA—the parts that have nothing to do with protecting a constitutional amendment and everything to do with protecting the corporate gun lobby. She’s made a living out of insulting victims and survivors of mass shootings and police violence, and she once called the anti-gun violence group Moms Demand Action a bunch of “bored women” who “got tired of drinking boxed wine in their driveways and got together to annoy law-abiding folks.”

As an NRA spokesperson, Loesch was also a prominent figure on the absolutely bonkers NRATV. John Oliver did a deep dive into the network earlier this year and their bizarre range of programming, saying “There is a lot to be concerned about regarding the NRA’s activities, but NRATV might actually be the dumbest, most transparent thing it does.” There were hunting shows and Antique Road Show knock-offs and a whole slew of female-centered shows designed to lure in women by making guns look “fabulous.”

NRATV was also the source of a number of weird and often disturbing viral clips featuring Loesch, like that time the network put klan hoods on Thomas the Tank Engine trains to protest diversity:

All of that is now a thing of the past, though, as the NRA has officially shut down production of NRATV. (Though they may continue to air past content.) The organization has apparently felt the network and its operating company Ackerman McQueen have become too extreme and too far removed from their core values. Also, according to the New York Times, there’s some sort of legal dispute between the two, as the NRA began audits of their contractors in relation to its tax-exempt status, and accused Ackerman McQueen of refusing to comply.

And on top of all of that, NRATV kept their viewership numbers secret, but it’s now being reported that the site had a measly 49,000 unique visitors in January. And Ackerman McQueen has reportedly been receiving $40 million annually from the NRA.

So it’s no wonder that NRA is cutting ties with the advertising firm. And that includes Loesch, who was apparently an employee of Ackerman McQueen, not the NRA directly. The internet is … less than sympathetic to her plight.

Thoughts and prayers, Dana.

(image: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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