Conversation so far:
What are ACORN videos?
an attempt to elicit damaging responses from employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
What action did James take with these?
O'Keefe selectively edited and manipulated his recordings of ACORN employees, as well as distorted the chronologies.
Did he get in trouble for this?
CANNOTANSWER.
What else interesting happened during this event?
appeared to show low-level ACORN employees in six cities providing advice to Giles and O'Keefe on how to avoid detection by authorities of tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution.
Was this successful?
Andrew Breitbart had signed a $120,000 contract for "life rights" by O'Keefe and Giles based on the ACORN videos.
What year did that happen?
2012.

Question: What were outside opinions of this?
Self-contained rewrite: What were outside opinions of Breitbart signing the "life rights" contract?