Former NRATV host Grant Stinchfield claimed in a January 9 legal filing that National Rifle Association executives viewed the messaging stategy at the NRA’s now-defunct media operation NRATV as “stupid” and “reckless.” Stinchfield amended his filing the same day it was submitted to remove the claim, although the initial allegation still appears in court records for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. While he was employed at NRATV as a host of one of its live broadcasts, Stinchfield was an active participant in the network’s odious and bizarre messaging.

The filing was made as part of a long-running dispute between the NRA and its former ad firm Ackerman McQueen, which produced NRATV. The New York Times reported last March that NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and other NRA leaders were expressing public anger over the messaging produced at NRATV. In particular, LaPierre was reportedly “livid and embarrassed” over an NRATV broadcast, first reported on by Media Matters, in which then-NRATV host and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch depicted children’s cartoon characters in Ku Klux Klan hoods. The dispute subsequently expanded in scope, with Ackerman McQueen and the NRA trading back-and-forth allegations of alleged misdeeds relating to billing practices, spending, and data sharing. In June, NRATV was canceled as Ackerman McQueen and the NRA severed their nearly 40-year relationship, during which the two entities had become deeply enmeshed.

Ackerman McQueen and the NRA are involved in several lawsuits spanning different jurisdictions as each side seeks tens of millions of dollars in damages amid the fallout of the partnership ending. Stinchfield was roped into one of the lawsuits that is being tried in federal court in Texas after he submitted an affidavit that purported to back the NRA’s claims against his former employer, Ackerman McQueen. The ad firm responded by suing Stinchfield for defamation and business disparagement, alleging that Stinchfield was dishonest in his affidavit. In its lawsuit, Ackerman McQueen alleged that both the NRA and the ad firm agreed that Stinchfield was “a loose cannon who could not be trusted to do unscripted media appearances,” referencing an August 2017 incident in which he suggested that North Korea should fire nuclear missiles at California.

On January 9, Stinchfield filed an answer to Ackerman’s lawsuit, alleging that numerous NRA executives saw the messaging strategy at NRATV as “stupid” and “reckless” and that Ackerman McQueen’s work for the NRA “made the NRA radioactive to gun owners across the political spectrum”:

Curiously, Stinchfield filed an amended answer later on January 9 which removed that paragraph and made other changes to formatting and language. Court documents indicate that Stinchfield is being represented in the lawsuit by Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, which in recent years has served as the NRA’s primary outside law firm. Former NRA President Oliver North, who was deposed from his role at the 2019 NRA annual meeting and is a leading figure for the Ackerman McQueen faction in the NRA internal dispute, previously accused the NRA of wasting members’ money by paying extraordinary legal fees to Brewer that he alleged averaged nearly $100,000 a day. 

An obvious irony of his claims of stupidity and recklessness at NRATV is that Stinchfield was one of the most prominent hosts for the media outlet, broadcasting up to five live updates a day during weekdays. Here are some of the lowlights from Stinchfield and guests on his NRATV program:

• White nationalist talking points flourished on Stinchfield’s show, and Stinchfield frequently hosted a contributor to a white nationalist journal on his broadcasts.

• Stinchfield’s show was frequently the platform for a conspiracy theory that alleged billionaire philanthropist George Soros was behind migrant caravans from Central America -- a remarkably similar conspiracy theory to the one that motivated an anti-Semitic gunman to carry out a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. 

• Stinchfield dismissed Christine Blasey Ford’s description of a sexual assault by then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh while they were high school students as “hijinks for boys.”

• While someone -- later revealed to be a Trump supporter -- was sending prominent Democrats pipe bombs in October 2018, Stinchfield suggested that the bombs could be “false flags” carried out by Democrats.

• Stinchfield hosted a segment with NRATV correspondent Chuck Holton in which Holton claimed that Black Lives Matter supporters were poised to committ mass rape and murder against white people in the U.S.

• After migrant children were tear-gassed at the border, Stinchfield called the incident a “setup job” that the media was involved in.

• On Election Day 2016, Stinchfield read from a satirical article clearly labeled “fiction” that invented claims about Hillary Clinton as if it were true in order to urge people to vote for Donald Trump.

• Stinchfield compared former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is Jewish, to a member of the Nazi Gestapo. 

• Stinchfield claimed that “all radicalized terrorists are Muslim.”

• Stinchfield had a habit of fabricating quotes for and deceptively editing videos of his political opponents, including inventing congressional testimony from former FBI Director James Comey and falsely saying candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination had called NRA members “terrorists.” In one instance, Stinchfield falsely claimed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked, “Who cares about a few terrorists?” while referencing an obviously fake Sanders Twitter account with the handle “@Ryan35186771.”

• Fashion model Fabio Lanzoni once appeared on Stinchfield’s show to claim that “there’s going to be a lot of raping going on” in California because of the state’s criminal justice policies.

• Stinchfield expressed support for a guest’s claim that the Second Amendment gives “firepower” to stand up to liberal bureaucrats.

• Stinchfield baselessly suggested that the motive (which law enforcement have never been able to establish) in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting was to target Trump supporters.

• Stinchfield claimed that CNN wants children to die in school shootings.

• In an infamous NRATV ad, Stinchfield smashed a television that was playing news clips of CNN, The View, reporter April Ryan, and others, to defend Trump.

• Stinchfield said it was “fake news” to say there are upwards of 30,000 gun deaths each year in the U.S. because that figure includes gun suicides.

• Stinchfield argued that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) shouldn’t be encouraging anti-administration protests because she “is a Black woman who grew up in St. Louis during a time when Blacks were barred from many restaurants, forced to drink from certain water fountains, just because of the color of their skin.”

• A guest on Stinchfield’s program said that the Black community has an “enslaved mentality” because of the Democratic Party.

• While appearing on Stinchfield’s program, Holton suggested that YouTube brought a workplace shooting upon itself by “starting to censor content.”

• Stinchfield argued that “nobody gives a rat’s ass” about Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women.

• Stinchfield accused former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder of waging an “all-out jihad” against law enforcement.

• After a hurricane killed thousands of people in Puerto Rico, Stinchfield said, “I’m there with Donald Trump, I call bogus on the 3,000 deaths.”

• Stinchfield’s show was a hotbed for sexist and creepy statements about female politicians.