Gun Company Deletes Humiliating Ad Featuring Veteran Accused Of Fabricating War Stories: WATCH

PublishedFebruary 1, 2025 3:00 AM EST|UpdatedJanuary 31, 2025 8:30 PM EST

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Staccato deleted and walked back an ad featuring Tim Kennedy.

Kennedy has faced serious allegations of fabricating and exaggerating war stories. The revelations went viral following the "Antihero Podcast" doing multiple episodes breaking down his book "Scars and Stripes."

The incredibly popular military podcast even brought on three of Tim's former teammates from the infamous Battle of Firebase Anaconda.

To put it politely, all three teammates said stories told by Tim weren't true. One of the most infamous stories revolves around using a thermal device to shoot people if they had a weapon and a heat signature, whether they were in the fight or not. The ground force commander - Travis Worlock - said no event ever happened, and if it had, it would be a war crime. An attorney for the Green Beret and former UFC star told me the event did happen, but was legal and was ordered. Travis refuted the statement from the lawyer. You can read both sides here, and below are some relevant links:

Staccato deletes ad featuring Tim Kennedy.

Now, Kennedy is facing more embarrassment. The popular gun brand Staccato - which makes some of the best high-quality handguns on the market - released an ad Friday featuring Kennedy.

It didn't take any time at all for the company to release its mistake amid massive backlash directed at Kennedy. The ad was deleted, but not before the internet captured it. You can watch it below starting around 20 minutes in.

Following the video being deleted, Staccato released a statement apologizing for featuring Kennedy and made it clear he's "not and has never been an employee, brand ambassador or paid influencer of Staccato."

The statement following the video being deleted reads as follows:

There are some things we need to clarify: Tim Kennedy is not and has never been an employee, brand ambassador or paid influencer of Staccato. We collaborated on this single campaign, and we understand it was in poor taste. The campaign that we started rolling out this week was intended to poke fun at our industry and all the characters in it. One of those characters was intended to be a 'bro vet' and we believed Tim Kennedy would be perfect for that role. These decisions and shooting took place prior to many of the stories that have come to light in the recent weeks and months. We understand it was in bad judgment to continue to move forward with Tim Kennedy as planned. We heard you and we apologize.

You can see the full statement below, and make sure to send me your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

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Below are a few Instagram comments on the statement above:

Who runs your marketing and what cave have they been living in for a few years. Derp.
Respect for having accountability and integrity to apologize and distance yourself from further association with TK after his lies/stolen valor for fame has been exposed by even his own former teammates. Wish other brands would put integrity and accountability over 💰. Respect for Staccato has grown 10 fold @the_antihero_podcast
Nice to see accountability and transparency instead of avoidance. Well done! @the_antihero_podcast
Now I want a staccato
Kudos to y’all!
What if the real Bro Vet was the friends we made along the way?
Accountability. It’s what plants crave.
Accepting accountability and apologizing is a first from a company, I respect it and will continue to use your amazing products
Guess we’ll never hear the story about a bag of Staccato XC’s . Bummer.

On one hand, Staccato acted quickly, and I'm sure is doing a lot of major PR damage control behind closed doors. Say a prayer for the poor soul in the marketing department who signed off on the ad being posted. I saw the comments prior to the video being deleted. It was a bloodbath of people mocking the company.

On the other hand, it's hard to imagine a major gun company (Staccato makes outstanding weapons, and that's just a fact) managed to step in it this bad. The Tim Kennedy allegations have been viral since prior to Thanksgiving. How did Staccato not know or did it know and assumed it wouldn't get immediately crushed?

That's a tough question for my mind to logically work through.

All being said, it's easy to crush people and companies for mistakes and ignoring it (looking at you, Bud Light!). If we're going to do that, then you have to give credit where credit is due. Staccato put its hand up, owned the mistake and didn't run from it. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.