Opinion
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- I’ve been wrestling with this for a few weeks. While I derive no pleasure from discussing it, I refuse to shy away from it, so here goes.
As you are no doubt aware, a little over one year ago, two giant figures in the gun rights community, Phil Van Cleave, and Larry Pratt were caught on camera playing along with Sacha Baron Cohen for what we now know is a sick Showtime comedy series, ‘Who Is America’.
The basic premise of the show was to catch conservatives, in this case, gun rights activists, in embarrassing and compromising situations. In both of these cases, it was extremely effective.
To be fair, they were not the only high profile victims of Cohen’s vicious hit jobs, but frankly, I don’t care about the others, only the attacks against the pro 2A community and in this case, two friends. That said, let me be clear: both of these men are longtime friends of mine. I’m not here to judge them after the fact as they have suffered tremendously, continue to suffer ridicule and embarrassment and are no doubt feeling the pressure of being publicly ostracized by many within a community they have worked so hard for over so many years.
There isn’t anything I can say or do here on this page or on my radio programs that will help either of them out of their predicament, nor will I bother trying. I can’t and I won’t. Reality is a harsh mistress and both gentlemen will endure whatever comes their way, personally and professionally, as a result of their own actions. Unfortunately, perception is reality and for the vast majority of Americans who saw the videos or will see them without the benefit of knowing the decades of selfless hard-work these individuals have put into making America great. Their legacy, in and outside of the firearms rights community, is tarnished forever.
But there is a bigger story here if that is even possible, and that is the question of how it all came to be?
Not how did each man put themselves in such a position to do or say the things they did, only they can answer that, but rather, who are the people behind the scenes who provided the platform that enabled the outcome? Who did this? What kind of people do this to other American’s knowing it would crush reputations, cost jobs, destroy lives and family? And why? For what purpose? Comedy? Money?
Think about this for a moment. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a television, studio or movie set, (I have). There is a crew of people involved in the making of any production, especially one of the big budget types such as this. It includes camera operators, directors and production assistants, makeup artists, lighting etc. It is a busy place with a lot of activity.
In this case and because of the nature of the deception necessary to pull it off successfully, the entire crew, in addition to their individual responsibilities, were also actors, and more importantly, bonafide, unashamed, liars.
Each one of them was well aware that they were intentionally deceiving another human being who would later be publicly ridiculed, shamed and scorned to the point of what might be incalculable destruction to their lives.
Here is a complete list of the evil low life scum that willfully assisted in destroying the lives of good men and women who only want the best for our country.
Series Produced by
| Sacha Baron Cohen | … | executive producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Melanie J. Elin | … | producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Larry Ferguson Jr. | … | post producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Tony Gardner | … | associate producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Nicholas Hatton | … | producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Anthony Hines | … | executive producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Lee Kern | … | co-producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Jonathan Levene | … | associate producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Corey Metcalf | … | field producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Debra Neil-Fisher | … | co-producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Andrew Newman | … | producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Julia Pyzik | … | field producer / producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Brian Reich | … | co-producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Todd Schulman | … | executive producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Ashley Underwood | … | field producer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Tim Allsop | … | producer (3 episodes, 2018) |
| Daniel Gray Longino | … | producer (3 episodes, 2018) |
| Dan Swimer | … | producer (3 episodes, 2018) |
Series Music by
| Erran Baron Cohen | … | (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Cinematography by
| Luke Geissbuhler | … | (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Film Editing by
| Roger Nygard | … | (5 episodes, 2018) |
| Mark Davies | … | (3 episodes, 2018) |
| Drew Kordik | … | (3 episodes, 2018) |
| Eric Notarnicola | … | (3 episodes, 2018) |
Series Makeup Department
| Alexis Arenas | … | makeup artist (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Barney Burman | … | key makeup artist (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Analyn Cruz | … | wig designer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Thomas Floutz | … | special makeup effects artist (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Tony Gardner | … | makeup department head (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Carlton Coleman | … | special makeup effects artist (2 episodes, 2018) |
Series Production Management
| Daniel Nuzzi | … | production supervisor (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
| Melanie J. Elin | … | associate director (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Art Department
| Elana Farley | … | property master (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Greg Shull | … | props (1 episode, 2018) |
Series Sound Department
| Michael Huang | … | dialogue editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Jim Lakin | … | sound mixer (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Jason Coleman | … | foley artist (5 episodes, 2018) |
| Scott Harber | … | sound mixer (3 episodes, 2018) |
| Francesco Lo Cascio | … | sound mixer (2 episodes, 2018) |
| Chris Quilty | … | sound mixer (2 episodes, 2018) |
| Derrek Jones | … | foley artist (1 episode, 2018) |
Series Special Effects by
| James Isaacson | … | special effects lab technician (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Camera and Electrical Department
| Matthew W. Davis | … | segment director of photography (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Michael Richard Martin | … | camera operator (3 episodes, 2018) |
| Marco Tomaselli | … | camera operator (2 episodes, 2018) |
| Eric Bader | … | Additional Director of Photography (1 episode, 2018) |
| Nate Cornett | … | camera operator (1 episode, 2018) |
| Brett Graybill | … | additional first assistant camera (1 episode, 2018) |
Series Casting Department
| Kris Redding | … | casting (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Costume and Wardrobe Department
| Jason Alper | … | stylist (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Editorial Department
| Joshua Calloway | … | post-production coordinator (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Jeremy Cohen | … | additional editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Peter Daucsavage | … | assistant editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Delaney Del Vecchio | … | assistant editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Meghan Klien | … | post-production coordinator (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Tom Nuzzalo | … | assistant editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Valerie Summey | … | assistant editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| James Thomas | … | consulting editor (7 episodes, 2018) |
| George Mandl | … | additional editor (2 episodes, 2018) |
| Alexis Hanawalt | … | additional editor (1 episode, 2018) |
| Brooke Rupe | … | assistant editor (uncredited) (7 episodes, 2018) |
Series Other crew
| Andrew Bromley | … | assistant production coordinator (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Kate Cavendish | … | publicist (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Christian Garrido | … | production assistant (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Lon Haber | … | publicist (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Cassandra B. Laymon | … | stage manager (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Tim Monich | … | dialect coach (7 episodes, 2018) |
| Greg Vargo | … | production assistant (7 episodes, 2018) |
These actors and liars performed their roles perfectly. No laughter on set, no snickering or outward appearance of anything that would give away their true intent, acting as nothing more than professional crew members doing their jobs, that is until the lights went dim and the subjects were comfortably on their way home.
I can only imagine the laughter and high fives behind the scenes as they deceptively edited tape, reviewed material and added the graphics to the green screen shots in their intentional efforts to provide maximum destruction to the participants, whose own actions without edits, was bad enough.
Again, while the participants made terrible decisions in engaging in the first place and have no one to blame but themselves, this type of activity from well-funded leftist entertainment and media simply highlights the deep-rooted hatred and the lengths to which those filled with such hate, will go to destroy their enemies. The massive, behind the scenes lies and deception by dozens of sick and evil individuals that it took to pull this off, willing participants or not, shows us in no uncertain terms the lengths that those who hate us as conservatives and/or gun owners will go to destroy us. They will gleefully destroy our lives, reputations, community standings, careers, family relationships and anything else that they believe stands in their way.
Unfortunately, two of our own, stupidly, albeit unwittingly, handed them the keys to their own reputations and in the process did incalculable damage to not only themselves but their community. But those responsible for enabling a sicko like Cohen deserve to share the shame.
About Mark Walters
Mark Walters is the host of two nationally syndicated radio broadcasts, Armed American Radio and Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense with Mark Walters. He is the Second Amendment Foundations 2015 Gun Rights Defender of the Year award recipient and co-author of two books, Lessons from Armed America with Kathy Jackson (Whitefeather Press) and Lessons from UnArmed America with Rob Pincus (Whitefeather Press)