nra wayne lapierre ackerman mcqueen
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

When the National Rifle Association first sued PR and advertising firm Ackerman McQueen, we wondered how much longer the decades-old relationship between the two could survive. Now, more than a month later and after a flurry of accusations, more lawsuits and counter-suits, Ackerman has moved to terminate its relationship with the NRA.

As The Hill reports:

“Today, faced with the NRA’s many inexplicable actions that have constructively terminated the parties’ Services Agreement, Ackerman McQueen decided it is time to stand up for the truth, and formally provide a Notice to Terminate its almost four-decade long relationship with the National Rifle Association,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

As part of what it does for the NRA, Ackerman, of course, runs NRA TV which was the original source of the discord between the civil rights org and Ack-Mac. Ackerman employs many of the public faces that have come to be associated with the NRA such as Dana Loesch and Colion Noir. And now-former NRA President Oliver North was an Ackerman McQueen employee as well.

The split puts the future of NRA TV very much in doubt. A variety of MSM reports on the breakup say the move caught Ackerman employees and on-air talent off guard, but if they didn’t see this coming, they’ve been living under a very big rock for weeks.

The Ackerman move probably suits the NRA just fine. They had to have been looking for a way to cut Ack-Mac loose without any additional costs that might have accrued if the client had been the one to terminate the relationship.

And neither party can want to see the mutual lawsuits reach a courtroom, let alone the discovery phase. That probably wouldn’t have been good for either party.

Look for the legal actions to be quietly euthanized to both parties’ mutual satisfaction. More interesting times in Fairfax. Watch this space.

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70 COMMENTS

  1. Should have seen it coming by the time that you’re filing law suits. My question is how the non-competes will pan out.

    • A sailor always carries a knife. One never knows when an anchor rope will need to be cut. Like now.

  3. Drain the swamp…in other”news” the ILLinois house has passed more evil gun control. More from Boch I’m sure!😩

    • Yes Chitcago keeps doing that but Illinois State Gov is also looking at expelling the city / Metroplex from the State because the clowns “up north” are ruining the other 95% of the landmass that IS Illinois. Plenty of good folks still live there, and they are sick of “the city” running everything. So HOW BROKE will Chitcago BE once they can’t steal from the rest of the state? It won’t be pretty, that’s for sure.

  4. Never having watched NRA TV, I won’t miss it. Furthermore, I have no idea where to find it since it’s not included in my bare bones cable TV package.

    Splitting up will be good for both entities. There were too many cross connections that should never have been permitted. Even if no one took unfair advantage, it’s poor management to create opportunities for conflict of interest and divided loyalty.

      • If you think that’s old… I haven’t even had a TV since a lightning storm took mine out in about 2013. It took us weeks to even bother to turn it on and then notice it wasn’t working.
        I figured anything that takes a month to even notice it’s out, doesn’t need to be replaced, it needs to go extinct.

        • *chuckle*

          I haven’t had a television since I went on strike and took mine out a little over 40 years ago.

          I’ve never seen an episode of the Simpsons, Married With Children, Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. I don’t “binge watch” any seasons of any shows at all. (Though I confess looking forward to Prager U videos.)

          ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle (@DeHavelle)

    • NRA TV is a website, although I’m guessing AM was involved in the NRA related programs, past and present, on Sportsman and Outdoors channels, like American Rifleman, NRA Guns & Gold, NRA News/Cam & Co, War Stories with Oliver North, Ted Nugent: Spirit of the Wild.

  5. Please fire Dana Loesch. If she wants to be 24/7 angry she can do it on her own dime.

    • I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who thought she was tiresome. I could tolerate her for about 5 minutes and that was it.

      • you deserve all you get when the shit hits the fan ,we have a few patriots left ,you are not one you sound like one of the ass kissing POS’s

        • Damn, somebody’s fantasy got rustled…

          She’s every bit a harpy as Shannon Watts; more trouble to keep around than she’s worth (which ain’t much). There’s loads of pretty(er) gals with guns that would do a better job, and not drag a bunch of irrelevant topics from their other (real?) job into their NRA duties.

        • I haven’t seen anybody get one this bad since 7th grade. Hell hath no fury like an infatuated 13 year old… of either gender.

      • I’ve always thought her work for the NRA is uninspiring and vapid, but as a person I think she’s alright. I wouldn’t vote for her or anything but we always need more 2A supporters.

      • Well when you have people hounding you at your home and others threatening to harm your children , it can sour your mood a bit.

    • I love Dana. Super smart. I suggest giving her radio show a try “The Dana Show.” It is separate from the NRA. She’s pretty funny too. I’m glad she’s on our side.

  6. NRA TV??? So that is what they spend money on instead of fighting all of these illegal and unconstitutional gun laws that Americans are being saddled with! And isn’t it interesting that Oliver North was being paid by the NRA and also being paid by the advertising firm from funds they got from the NRA??? North has NEVER been anything more than a moneyhungry asshat!

    • LtCol North was not drawing any salary from the NRA, so far as I know, and served as president for $1 per year or some such arrangement.

      He was being paid by Ack-Mak to produce a pro-gun television series, and did not draw any “salary” per se at all. I understand that three episodes have already been produced, but that now is probably the end of it.

      ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle (@DeHavelle)

    • Everybody’s got their own TV network these, hell even Scientology has one. It’s cheap advertising, to say the least.

      • Scientology has shitloads of money, though (which makes sense, seeing as the ‘religion’ is basically rich people worshipping their wealth)

        • Eh, most of that is propaganda. They don’t have as much money or as many followers as they say they do. Most of their money is in real estate. The last season of Leah Remini’s show went over it with Mike Rinder, and there was a book written not too long ago by Tony Ortega. There’s been a large number of drop-outs in recent years so they always have to bolster their claims to recruit new bodies.

  7. Now it is time to gut the organization of Wayne La Pee and all of his fellow miscreants,including any BoD who recently voted to retain and support him,which from reports is most of the board.
    My best guess is Ack Mac could see the writing on the wall with the N Y state investigation in the works and were the first rats off the ship.

    • Those rats likely have fleas that carry the plague. Bad times ahead. The old folks in the NRA are saying everything is fine, there’s nothing to see here, move along. Business as usual. Well, we know that it is a lie seeing their almost 40 year relationship ended in a divorce and a bitter battle for the money.

  8. if the on air talent didn’t know, they needed to pay effing attention.

    Conversely- if you think that the NRA doesn’t need some type of organized social media presence, *especially* on YouTube, then the 1990s called and they want YOU back.

  9. The NY AG is viciously anti 2A AND she is Prince Andrews hand picked flunky for that gig. The NY case will still drag Ack-Mac & Co. into the public eye during discovery.
    My guess is that between them and NRA there is going to be sooo much salacious and other inappropriate red meat that one or both will settle long before the case goes to court.
    That will become good news for Ack-Mac but very bad news for NRA members and the organizations central purpose.
    I’ll say now that I want my name on the class action that will follow this mess against NRA, it’s officers and directors. They’ve been stealing from us and misrepresenting their acts and actions for decades.
    Sadly, 2A, the membership and employees will be paying the highest price for their greed and malfeasance.

  10. The NRA had better circle the wagons and get ready for the onslaught now that some weakness has been exposed. I would like to see new leadership as the existing bunch is still living in the past as noted in the comments above. I have hedged my bets by joining SAF & GOA but the NRA needs to continue on.

    • We’re well past that; the wagons are already circling so fast they’re flinging members & money off in all directions.

  11. Does this mean that my recycling bin (digital and real) will not longer be stuffed with almost daily pleas from Wayne and Chris that the end is near, NRA is almost bankrupt due to evil NY forces, and Wayne almost had to buy new shoes from his own pocket?

    • New shoes! Oh no, is he going to be ok? He only made like $5 million last year, how can we help?

    • I agree with you. I live in NY and am stuck under the thumb of its tyrannical gubmint, but the troubles NRA is facing right now are purely self inflicted wounds. They operated foolishly and unprofessionally. They failed to perform even basic due diligence and allowed their arrogance and inattention get away from them.
      Any second year law student would have ensured they held, or were affiliated with the proper licensing before rolling out any major initiative in a place behind enemy lines.
      NY sux, yes. But the case the NY AG is moving against NRA was avoidable.

      I’ve argued over the years with NRA lawyers as to their utter failure to represent our interests, to defend our rights against the abuses we endure here and have always been dismissed with their curt “we have to pick and choose our battles” crap.
      Arguably there is no place in America that is denied fundamental 2A right as we are, but NRA lacked the will or the courage to take it on. I believe they were intimidated by the political climate here and thought it was wiser to not poke the bear.
      Wayne, NRA chief counsel and the Board are responsible, directly or indirectly for the NY case.

  12. Imagine if NRATV had been set up as a safe-haven for gun-vid posters who were being banned by Youtube, how big, influential, and profitable it’d be by now. InRange obviously doesn’t have the resources to pull themselves into prominence by their bootstraps…but the NRA probably did.

    But, I’m sure there was more money offered on the table *at the time* to set it up as a crypto-Republican loudspeaker under guise of a tax-exempt gun rights effort.

  13. The NRA TV cast has known of this for months. I noticed it too. They can’t talk about it because they have contracts that disallow them to say a word. Maybe in a year or so you will see some responses from a few of the former talking heads.

  14. I won’t be a bit surprised if Bloomberg doesn’t step up and hire AMQ to do stuff for PuketardMoms.

    Does this mean that Colin and Dana won’t be pro-gun anymore ?

  15. I have a life membership with NRA.
    I got sick of the fund raising,told them to cancel the monthly magazine.Maybe that cover lattes for a week.

  16. When I looked at all the states that infringe on the 2ndA I felt the NRA was a lost cause back in the early ’90s. That’s when my money stopped.
    As for wayne’s world TV, not in any of my TV packages, so I never have watched it, nor did/do I care to. Never liked to be harped at, got enough of that in my first marriage.
    In other news, Rep. Amash was given a high rating by the NRA, now he talks like a damnocrat. Trashing Trump, is a losing strategy. Trump is not perfect, but he beats the hell out of the damnocrats.

  17. I will miss Cam and Company. Cam Edwards is a good dude and I liked listening to this as a podcast.

  18. Same old game, Get many anti gunners to join and be voteing members, and take it down from the inside. Think like the Chineese, HOUAH
    Support your state orrg’s and forget the worthless NRA

  19. I hope Colion Noir keeps making content but not for the NRA. He’s too focused for them and I think they were using him for cool-kid-points in a way, insincerely basically, the way they turn everything they touch into crap, that would eventually damage his credibility. Assuming he’s not obligated and believes his own rhetoric, this would be a good time to quit while ahead. Loesch and Stenchfield belong with the NRA.

  20. Give me back the old Cam and Company and I’ll be thrilled. Loved the old program with Cam talking to just about everyone.

    • Colandro is a bigmouth and LaPierre lapdog, just like many other NRA Directors. The idea that we have to wait for all litigation to stop before cleaning house is a delay tactic to avoid cleaning house. The CEO is clearly more important to him and other NRA Directors than the health of the organization itself. Every non-corrupt organization would have fired their CEO under these circumstances. Just the appearance of corruption can sink a nonprofit organization.

      • Politicians do it all the time.

        Don’t worry I will build the wall, fix the economy, stop the military conflicts and protect the 2nd Amendment in my 2nd term. So you guys must get out there and vote for me. Trust me, I will do it this time. What do you got to lose? Do you want a Democrat!?

  22. Blah blah…. there has to be some nodes of Dana Loesch floating around somewhere. On a better note the NRA is more than capable of managing the marketing aspects on their own.

  24. I carefully read a recent article in Firearms News by former NRA bigwig Neal Knox’s son concerning this entire hullaballoo. It was a real eye-opener. One might think the writer was just spewing sour grapes over the way his old man was given the bum’s rush out of NRA’s parking lot, but the younger Mr. Knox made a profoundly strong case that LaPierre & Co. have made the NRA treasury their personal slush fund.
    I’m deeply disappointed that the BoD didn’t sniff this crap out years ago and sack LaPierre and his cronies.
    I’m also sick to death of being hounded by the NRA for every nickel and dime they can soak out of me, while at the same time “picking and choosing their battles” when they’re really displaying a complete lack of balls in truly standing up for our 2A rights. Another writer also rightly pointed out that the NRA is being devoured from within and is being saturated by wolves in sheeps’ clothing. If the NRA is destroyed, though, I fear that we’ll have no public face whatsoever and our gun rights will soon be flushed down the toilet. I hope the organization can be saved, and the best first step is to hoist LaPierre on a petard in tar and feathers.

    • If you’ve ever filled out an NRA ballot, and most members haven’t, you’d understand why the BoD hasn’t done anything about LaWayne.

    • H Allen- Jeff and Chris Knox, the sons of Neal Knox, are two of the only people who report accurately on the NRA, because they have a lifetime of knowledge about the org. Their father Neal Knox was slated to be president of NRA and was bumped for Charlton Heston. Jeff wrote an article about Duty to Inform in Illinois’ concealed carry bill:

      “Dangerous duty for concealed carriers” on 3-14-2013 on World Net Daily news website.

      Chris wrote a more detailed article about Illinois’ concealed carry bill which appeared in Shotgun News print edition:

      Dangerous Duty: Duty to Inform in Illinois’ CCW bill

      The DTI w/criminal penalties was negotiated by Richard Pearson at ISRA (NRA state affiliate), Valinda Rowe from (southern) Illinois Carry, and John Boch during 2010-2011 when they were copsucking the police unions. NRA contract lobbyist for Illinois Donald Todd Vandermyde place the Duty to Inform language in state Rep. Brandon Phelps “NRA backed” concealed carry bill.

      Vandermyde’s boss William Dugan was convicted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in 2010, after which Vandermyde was no longer listed as lobbyist for the Intl. Union of Operating Engineers local 150 in Countryside, Illinois, he only shows as registered lobbyist for NRA after that. NRA is a whorehouse filled with scum like Donald Todd Vandermyde, acting in concert with retarded hicks at the state level like Richard Pearson, Valinda Rowe and John Boch to sell out their own members to anti-gun police unions.

  25. Ak-ak finally realized that when you and your anchor client take a months’ long beating in the media, maybe you aren’t such a good P R firm, and fired themselves.

    • They were good at their job. They did it for nearly 40 years. They changed the entire NRA’s personality and direction. They, along with the “leadership,” turned the NRA into a “Republican” political arm. They made sure the demographic stayed old white Republican men because those people will sit down and shut up then donate their hard earned money to politicians/NRA.

      You can see this through McQuuen’s and the NRA’s advertising/propaganda being sent out to the voting members (aka the older crowd that’s been in the NRA for a very long time) after their deeds have been exposed to the general populace.

      The whole situation is at the phase of trying to save face, come out as the victim and divert attention onto others as you take what’s left. Even if it doesn’t work, they are too old at this point to care much as long as they don’t go to prison or lose all their riches.

      “Because after this no more jobs. This is the last one I’m doing. I’m quitting. For good.”

  26. “Ackerman McQueen decided it is time to stand up for the truth…”

    Thank you PR crap weasels, you can’t buy inadvertent irony of this quality for any price.

  27. Greedy weasels at NRA want too keep all the Money in house so top leaders can play Caligula!

  28. I have watched din utter disgust , as Wayne , has decided he no longer is a Patriot but a Dictator, not following the long doctrine of the Nra, The competitive shooting which use to be a strong part of the Nra has been gutted. The Connections with the Olympic Shooters was last years ago, when they had a squabble. Its time Wayne to step aside and get someone in there that wants to make the NRA great gain, some one who love s guns and gun owners more then the cash they have paid. Time to go, sadly as a member of the Nra for a long time over forty years, I think its time to support the GOA and other pro-gun groups the Nra is getting to soft on issues.

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