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TV host John Oliver took aim at the dystopian vision offered by the NRA's lifestyle network on "Last Week Tonight" on Sunday evening. (Photo: Last Week Tonight/screenshot)
As gun control advocates call for streaming services to end their relationships with the National Rifle Association's (NRA) firearm-focused channel, NRATV, John Oliver used his HBO show Sunday evening to draw attention to the "bleak vision of America" offered by the network.
"It's the dumbest most transparent thing it does," said Oliver, of the organization's highly choreographed effort to make Americans fearful. "It's just a vessel to sell America guns."
Watch:
On his program "Last Week Tonight," Oliver highlighted NRATV's on-screen personalities including Dana Loesch, the NRA spokesperson who recently accused the news media of "loving" mass shootings and who has appeared in viral videos on the channel in which she has decried progressive protesters as violent while touting the gun lobby as representing the "clenched fist of truth."
"Today's America is plagued by urban riots and domestic ISIS sympathizers," Loesch asserts in one NRATV clip, as executive vice president Wayne LaPierre warns of rampant sex trafficking that can ostensibly be stopped by civilians with guns.
The segment also took aim at NRATV's express purpose of capturing a female audience, with one organization official saying in a video clip, "If you get the woman, you get the family." The network features programs aimed at making women comfortable with the idea of firing a semi-automatic weapon like the AR-15, the gun used in several mass shootings in recent years including the one last month in Parkland, Florida, and selling handbags featuring pockets that can conceal a weapon.
Daily Kos, Everytown for Gun Safety, and other gun control advocates have circulated petitions calling for companies including Amazon and Roku to stop offering the NRA's streaming service.
"Businesses across the country are beginning to leave the NRA, realizing how toxic and complicit their relationship with the gun purveyors make them seem," wrote the Daily Kos, whose petition has gathered more than 86,000 signatures. "Hotels, credit cards, and banks have begun to pull back on their business deals. It's time that the major streaming services--Amazon, Roku, Apple TV, and Google Play--that all carry NRATV, stop."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
As gun control advocates call for streaming services to end their relationships with the National Rifle Association's (NRA) firearm-focused channel, NRATV, John Oliver used his HBO show Sunday evening to draw attention to the "bleak vision of America" offered by the network.
"It's the dumbest most transparent thing it does," said Oliver, of the organization's highly choreographed effort to make Americans fearful. "It's just a vessel to sell America guns."
Watch:
On his program "Last Week Tonight," Oliver highlighted NRATV's on-screen personalities including Dana Loesch, the NRA spokesperson who recently accused the news media of "loving" mass shootings and who has appeared in viral videos on the channel in which she has decried progressive protesters as violent while touting the gun lobby as representing the "clenched fist of truth."
"Today's America is plagued by urban riots and domestic ISIS sympathizers," Loesch asserts in one NRATV clip, as executive vice president Wayne LaPierre warns of rampant sex trafficking that can ostensibly be stopped by civilians with guns.
The segment also took aim at NRATV's express purpose of capturing a female audience, with one organization official saying in a video clip, "If you get the woman, you get the family." The network features programs aimed at making women comfortable with the idea of firing a semi-automatic weapon like the AR-15, the gun used in several mass shootings in recent years including the one last month in Parkland, Florida, and selling handbags featuring pockets that can conceal a weapon.
Daily Kos, Everytown for Gun Safety, and other gun control advocates have circulated petitions calling for companies including Amazon and Roku to stop offering the NRA's streaming service.
"Businesses across the country are beginning to leave the NRA, realizing how toxic and complicit their relationship with the gun purveyors make them seem," wrote the Daily Kos, whose petition has gathered more than 86,000 signatures. "Hotels, credit cards, and banks have begun to pull back on their business deals. It's time that the major streaming services--Amazon, Roku, Apple TV, and Google Play--that all carry NRATV, stop."
As gun control advocates call for streaming services to end their relationships with the National Rifle Association's (NRA) firearm-focused channel, NRATV, John Oliver used his HBO show Sunday evening to draw attention to the "bleak vision of America" offered by the network.
"It's the dumbest most transparent thing it does," said Oliver, of the organization's highly choreographed effort to make Americans fearful. "It's just a vessel to sell America guns."
Watch:
On his program "Last Week Tonight," Oliver highlighted NRATV's on-screen personalities including Dana Loesch, the NRA spokesperson who recently accused the news media of "loving" mass shootings and who has appeared in viral videos on the channel in which she has decried progressive protesters as violent while touting the gun lobby as representing the "clenched fist of truth."
"Today's America is plagued by urban riots and domestic ISIS sympathizers," Loesch asserts in one NRATV clip, as executive vice president Wayne LaPierre warns of rampant sex trafficking that can ostensibly be stopped by civilians with guns.
The segment also took aim at NRATV's express purpose of capturing a female audience, with one organization official saying in a video clip, "If you get the woman, you get the family." The network features programs aimed at making women comfortable with the idea of firing a semi-automatic weapon like the AR-15, the gun used in several mass shootings in recent years including the one last month in Parkland, Florida, and selling handbags featuring pockets that can conceal a weapon.
Daily Kos, Everytown for Gun Safety, and other gun control advocates have circulated petitions calling for companies including Amazon and Roku to stop offering the NRA's streaming service.
"Businesses across the country are beginning to leave the NRA, realizing how toxic and complicit their relationship with the gun purveyors make them seem," wrote the Daily Kos, whose petition has gathered more than 86,000 signatures. "Hotels, credit cards, and banks have begun to pull back on their business deals. It's time that the major streaming services--Amazon, Roku, Apple TV, and Google Play--that all carry NRATV, stop."