WATCH: Former NRA President Duped By Parkland Parents Into Delivering Fake Graduation Speech to Empty Chairs

James Madison Academy is not a real high school, yet without realizing it former NRA president David Keene accepted an invitation to address what he thought was going to be its graduating class of 2021.

Instead, the 3,044 chairs in the audience were left completely unoccupied. And not because it was a dress rehearsal as Keene was told, but to represent all of the should-have-been 2021 high school graduates who were killed by gun violence, “The Lost Class.”

The stunt was devised by Change the Ref, an organization deeply involved in the gun control movement. Founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who’s son Joaquin was tragically killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.

The graduation ceremony was intended to raise awareness to how damaging the message is behind gun rights activist speakers. Buzzfeed News spoke to Manuel Oliver who said, “We need to call them out, we need to show everyone — this is how they process the logic behind the gun industry.”

Footage from Keene’s speech was released Wednesday, edited into a video advocating for raising awareness against gun rights advocacy and the threat it poses to middle and high school students. Keene was unaware that he was set up to make a fake speech.

A Change the Ref spokesperson said, “Ironically, had the men conducted a proper background check on the school, they would have seen that the school is fake,” in a press release.

John Lott, an author and gun rights activist, was also duped in the stunt. Lott told BuzzFeed that he was unaware that he’d been conned.

“Unfortunately, the fact they lied to me many times is kind of illustrated by the way they edited and chopped up the video that’s there,” Lott said. “Is that the way we want to have political debate in the country? Where people lie and creatively edit what people say?”

Watch above via Change the Ref