https://www.thetrace.org/2020/...ierre-elephant-hunt/



Unaired TV Episodes Show Wayne LaPierre Trying to Shoot an Elephant

In court filings, a production company alleges that the NRA leader suppressed footage showing him and his wife hunting elephants in Botswana.

BY WILL VAN SANT· @W_VANSANT ·January 30, 2020 · UPDATED January 30, 2020 3:48 pm EST

In a bio circulated by the National Rifle Association, chief executive Wayne LaPierre is praised as “a skilled hunter, from Chesapeake waterfowl to African Cape buffalo.”

It’s a description sure to resonate with hunters, who are a pillar of NRA support.

A recent court filing, however, suggests LaPierre may have some unease with being portrayed as too avid a hunter, at least as far as African elephants are concerned. According to the filing, LaPierre took part in an elephant hunt in Botswana that was filmed for an outdoor television program, then “instructed that two episodes in 2018 not be aired.”

The episodes were shot for a long-running program called “Under Wild Skies,” according to the filing, and “contain video footage of LaPierre firing multiple gunshots at an elephant in Botswana while attempting to kill it.” The episodes also feature “LaPierre’s wife, Susan LaPierre, cutting off the elephant’s tail… holding the elephant tail in the air, and proclaiming ‘Victory … with Under Wild Skies!’” The couple allegedly “posed for photos while sitting on the deceased elephant.”

The filing detailing the Botswana hunt was submitted in December in a lawsuit that Under Wild Skies originally brought against the NRA last September.

The NRA and its attorneys, as well as lawyers for “Under Wild Skies,” did not respond to phone calls and emails Wednesday seeking comment for this story.



“Under Wild Skies” is hosted by Tony Makris, a big game hunter and executive with Ackerman McQueen, the marketing firm that was largely responsible for crafting the NRA’s public image until the longstanding relationship between the two imploded last year. The NRA and Ackerman have been hurling various charges of impropriety against each other ever since and are locked in legal battle in courtrooms in Texas and Virginia.

“Under Wild Skies” worked with the NRA for 26 years, according to the Fairfax lawsuit, and Makris and LaPierre were friendly for even longer. In addition to hosting the hunting show, Makris is president of Mercury Group, an Ackerman subsidiary. In 2017 alone, The Trace has reported, the NRA paid “Under Wild Skies” and Mercury more than $8 million.

A 2018 sponsorship agreement included in the court filing indicates that the NRA paid “Under Wild Skies” nearly $1 million annually from 2016 to 2018 in exchange for advertising time. That payment was to increase every year to $1.4 million in 2025, according to the agreement, which required “Under Wild Skies” to produce 13 original programs each year. The NRA claims in court records that the show violated the agreement by producing only 11 episodes in 2018, which led to the allegation that LaPierre asked that the elephant hunt episodes not run.



Over the years, “Under Wild Skies” featured NRA brass, including LaPierre, taking part in hunts in the United States and several countries in Africa and South America.

The court filing does not specify when the Botswana hunt took place. The country banned commercial elephant hunting in 2014. The LaPierres were featured in a 2014 episode of “Under Wild Skies” that was promoted as having been filmed in Botswana weeks before the ban took effect. No elephant hunting is shown in that episode. Wayne LaPierre, who has a reputation for being a bit clumsy with a gun, kills a warthog. Susan LaPierre fells an impala and a Cape buffalo.

The NRA has long worked in tandem with the hunting advocacy group Safari Club International. Safari Club past-president Paul Babaz is on the NRA board and the groups recently joined forces to fend off an attempt to reinstate hunting prohibitions on Alaskan wildlife refuges. The groups also successfully fought to lift an import ban on elephant body parts, including tusks.

The lawsuit filed by “Under Wild Skies” states that “almost all of the NRA high donors are hunters” and that LaPierre, his wife, and other NRA officials used their experience on the program to gain membership to elite hunting organizations whose members are key to NRA fundraising.

The lawsuit alleges that the NRA, seeking to retaliate against Makris and Ackerman, stopped making its payments to “Under Wild Skies” in September. “The NRA’s action (sic) are in pure malice against Anthony Makris,” according to the lawsuit, which seeks $17 million in damages.

Botswana is home to some 130,000 elephants, about a third of the elephant population in Africa. The ban on elephant hunting was supported by international conservationist groups, which were dismayed when it was lifted last year. In rural areas of Botswana, where elephants trample crops and occasionally people, there is strong support for hunting, which can generate local jobs. African elephants are considered vulnerable to extinction but are not endangered.

Makris has firsthand experience of how controversial elephant hunting can be. There was outrage in 2013 after NBC showed an episode of “Under Wild Skies,” shot in Botswana, in which Makris guns down an elephant. Makris responded by likening critics of hunting “big and special” creatures like elephants to Hitler for displaying “a very unique form of animal racism.”

NBC then cancelled “Under Wild Skies.” The program continued to run on NRATV, which shut down in June amid intensifying turmoil at the NRA.

quote:

Wayne LaPierre, who has a reputation for being a bit clumsy with a gun,

If this is true, he should never have been in charge of the NRA.

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Originally posted by Saeed:

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Wayne LaPierre, who has a reputation for being a bit clumsy with a gun,

If this is true, he should never have been in charge of the NRA.

Every time he has a gun in his hands it looks like he’s thinking, “Icky.”

Can’t find the article now, but I read once where he was simply a guy who likes a good fight and thought heading the NRA would fit the bill. Kind of like Stu at sportsman’s warehouse.

And look where it got us!

I have never understood why the NRA needed to sponsor that show.

Because Makris was the marketing arm of the NRA...what better way to payback a friend than host his hunts!

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Originally posted by BaxterB:
Because Makris was the marketing arm of the NRA...what better way to payback a friend than host his hunts!

Just another example of the taint surrounding LaPierre and the NRA. The rehabilitation of the image and stature of the NRA will never fully begin until the NRA board either encourages LaPierre to resign or they remove him. If the NRA were a public company, LaPierre would have been gone along time ago. The NRA has been weakened by all the abuses of the senior leadership and until that leadership is gone a cloud will continue to impair their effectiveness unfortunately.

I remember that episode. I may still have it recorded. It was cut very odd showing WLP. Then he just disappears.

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Just another example of the taint surrounding LaPierre and the NRA. The rehabilitation of the image and stature of the NRA will never fully begin until the NRA board either encourages LaPierre to resign or they remove him. If the NRA were a public company, LaPierre would have been gone along time ago. The NRA has been weakened by all the abuses of the senior leadership and until that leadership is gone a cloud will continue to impair their effectiveness unfortunately.

Sad but true.

I wouldn't care to be within ten miles of WLP and a loaded gun.

Wait, when did elephant hunting close in Botswana? The article mentions the hunt took place in 2018.

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Wait, when did elephant hunting close in Botswana?

Invoke the Lacey Act!!! :-)

I shudder to think where American firearms owners would be today without the leadership of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA over the past 40 plus years.

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Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I shudder to think where American firearms owners would be today without the leadership of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA over the past 40 plus years.

Very true.

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Originally posted by larryshores:

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Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I shudder to think where American firearms owners would be today without the leadership of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA over the past 40 plus years.

Very true.

And imagine how much more could have been achieved if we had a better, less controversial man leading the NRA??

Not to mention how much more money they would have to spend on 2nd amendment defense if millions hadn’t been spent on WLP and his lavish life style......

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Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I shudder to think where American firearms owners would be today without the leadership of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA over the past 40 plus years.

No doubt. However, that does not excuse executive excesses that bring disrepute on the organization and impair it’s effectiveness. In fact LaPierre’s historic successes have probably contributed to an apparent belief on his part that he can treat the organization as his own fiefdom. For the long term good of the NRA LaPierre needs to acknowledge the credibility issues he creates for the organization and step aside allowing new leadership to begin to rebuild lost credibility.

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Originally posted by MJines:

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I shudder to think where American firearms owners would be today without the leadership of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA over the past 40 plus years.

No doubt. However, that does not excuse executive excesses that bring disrepute on the organization and impair it’s effectiveness. In fact LaPierre’s historic successes have probably contributed to an apparent belief on his part that he can treat the organization as his own fiefdom. For the long term good of the NRA LaPierre needs to acknowledge the credibility issues he creates for the organization and step aside allowing new leadership to begin to rebuild lost credibility.

Well said.

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A recent court filing, however, suggests LaPierre may have some unease with being portrayed as too avid a hunter, at least as far as African elephants are concerned. According to the filing, LaPierre took part in an elephant hunt in Botswana that was filmed for an outdoor television program, then “instructed that two episodes in 2018 not be aired.”

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A 2018 sponsorship agreement included in the court filing indicates that the NRA paid “Under Wild Skies” nearly $1 million annually from 2016 to 2018 in exchange for advertising time. That payment was to increase every year to $1.4 million in 2025, according to the agreement, which required “Under Wild Skies” to produce 13 original programs each year. The NRA claims in court records that the show violated the agreement by producing only 11 episodes in 2018, which led to the allegation that LaPierre asked that the elephant hunt episodes not run.

If I'm reading this right the NRA is suing because the two episodes that LaPierre asked not be aired are the reason for the suit? So why then doesn't the NRA go after LaPierre instead? Or perhaps the better question does he has have something to do with initiating the action against Under Wild Skies? Sounds pretty fishy to me.

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Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I shudder to think where American firearms owners would be today without the leadership of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA over the past 40 plus years.

Agree...

Sounds like LaPierre is a politician.

He goes hunting to satisfy a requirement to gain support.

He tells them not to air the two episode.

Then when they don't, he sues them because they have not met their quota!

NRA Chief of Staff Removed

. . . again, if this were a public company accountable to shareholders and investors, LaPierre would be pursuing other interests. Past successes do not excuse executive excesses. Time to get the NRA back on track and doing what it has done so well in the past.

As said above...the NRA IS responsible for preserving our Second Amendment rights and our freedoms as we know them today. And WLP deserves some of that credit.

Yes, he has likely over-stayed his VISA and should step away for the good of all...but we owe the NRA and they deserve our loyalty...to some extent.

It was not long ago that Mike Jines was touting them as the coming savior of hunting.

I think we all should take a deep breath and not throw the baby out with the bath water. Advocate for new more transparent (to membership) leadership but don’t leave the NRA.

Damn, a 57% pay increase in the past year for Wayne- a time of lawsuits and turmoil......Money well spent???

I get the feeling lapierre is a tough leader and a good leader for the NRA.He is not one of those deep state fakes like Bush.Just go on the NRA website and read whatever Lapierre has to say-no bullshit whatsoever.I believe people are trying to get him out and turn the NRA into their own little business.

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Originally posted by shootaway:

. . . turn the NRA into their own little business.

. . . I think that coup d'etat already occurred.

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Originally posted by MJines:

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Originally posted by shootaway:

. . . turn the NRA into their own little business.

. . . I think that coup d'etat already occurred.

Why do you say that? Are you getting your sources from fake news?

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Originally posted by ledvm:
As said above...the NRA IS responsible for preserving our Second Amendment rights and our freedoms as we know them today. And WLP deserves some of that credit.

Yes, he has likely over-stayed his VISA and should step away for the good of all...but we owe the NRA and they deserve our loyalty...to some extent.

I think we all should take a deep breath and not throw the baby out with the bath water. Advocate for new more transparent (to membership) leadership but don’t leave the NRA.

Time to move on and get back to priorities.

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LaPierre

If you have watched Under Wild Skies with La Pierre you could see that he can't shoot for shit

Should we be more concerned about how he shoots or how he runs the NRA? It seems that he has plenty of experience where it counts.Instead of it being a good thing that the leader of the NRA went to hunt elephant in africa some here see it otherwise and take sides with the antis.

Some interesting takes on the current issue with Under Wild Skies.

https://www.dailykos.com/stori...-off-elephant-s-tail

https://www.thetrace.org/2020/...ierre-elephant-hunt/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u...ociation-11568234929

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Originally posted by Jazman:
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If you have watched Under Wild Skies with La Pierre you could see that he can't shoot for shit

Personally, I don't care whether he can or can not shoot as long as he can effectively run NRA. Now, there is some concern in that lately in light of recent events, however I would not want to change the guy at the helm in an election year.

BTW, I was wondering why the article seemed to belittle La Pierre, and seemed a bit negative towards NRA.

Looked at the list of articles and all of them were negative towards gun ownership.

Went to about box:

The Trace is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to expanding coverage of guns in the United States. We believe that our country’s epidemic rates of firearm-related violence are coupled with a second problem: a shortage of information about the issue at large.

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Originally posted by MJines:

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Originally posted by BaxterB:
Because Makris was the marketing arm of the NRA...what better way to payback a friend than host his hunts!

Just another example of the taint surrounding LaPierre and the NRA. The rehabilitation of the image and stature of the NRA will never fully begin until the NRA board either encourages LaPierre to resign or they remove him. If the NRA were a public company, LaPierre would have been gone along time ago. The NRA has been weakened by all the abuses of the senior leadership and until that leadership is gone a cloud will continue to impair their effectiveness unfortunately.