A former NRA president was duped into giving a speech to 3,044 empty chairs which represented the gun victims who died before they could graduate.
Both David Keene, who had previously led the National Rifle Association (NRA), and gun rights activist John Lott thought they had been invited to deliver commencement speeches at an ordinary graduation ceremony at James Madison Academy in Las Vegas, The Hill reports.
This, however, was no typical graduation ceremony - the thousands of empty white chairs that the pair unknowingly carried out their speeches before had been killed as a result of gun violence.
In fact, according to BuzzFeed News, James Madison Academy isn't even a real school.
Manuel and Patricia Oliver, the parents of a student who died during the Parkland school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, had tricked the duo into taking part in the thought-provoking stunt.
The event was organized by the parents' organization Change the Ref and was inspired by their late son Joaquin "Guac" who was fatally shot in 2018.
Speaking in front of a stadium of thousands of socially distanced chairs on June 4, Keene said, per BuzzFeed News: "I’d be willing to bet that many of you will be among those who stand up and prevent those from proceeding."
"An overwhelming majority of you will go on to college, while others may decide their dream dictates a different route to success," he added. "My advice to you is simple enough: follow your dream and make it a reality."
"Ironically, had the men conducted a proper background check on the school, they would have seen that the school is fake," Change The Ref tweeted from their official page.
After filming, the pro-gun activists were told the ceremony had been canceled and hadn't been informed until after the videos were posted online that the event was a hoax.
"You’re telling me the whole thing was a setup?" Lott said to BuzzFeed News. "No, I didn’t know that."
Also speaking to BuzzFeed News, Manuel Oliver said: "These two guys are part of the problem. We need to call them out, we need to show everyone - this is how they process the logic behind the gun industry."
In a video released of the fake graduation ceremony (see above), the organization referred to the thousands of dead youngsters who were unable to graduate this year as "The Lost Class".
