Following his big night at last weekend’s 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, where he won Outstanding Scripted Variety Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, John Oliver had his work cut out for him on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight.
The comedian pulled no punches as he called out Nexstar and Sinclair, claiming they had to get Brendan Carr‘s “dick out of their mouth” to carry out the apparent FCC-sanctioned campaign against Jimmy Kimmel.
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“We were off last week, and a lot happened since our last show,” said Oliver in his monologue before launching into the recap, including Trump’s royal visit to the U.K., where protesters projected a photo of the POTUS with Jeffrey Epstein on the side of Windsor Castle.
“That does make me genuinely proud of the country I’m worried I’m gonna be deported to after this show airs,” he continued. “because we’re gonna dive straight in with our main story tonight.”
Catching his audience up on Disney‘s announcement that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be “preempted indefinitely.” The suspension has been criticized by many as an attack on free speech, following the FCC’s warning about his Charlie Kirk comments.
As Nexstar attempts to double its size by acquiring competitor Tegna, Oliver explained, “The point is, Nexstar badly needs FCC approval, so it is hardly surprising that when Carr specifically said companies should pull Kimmel off the air or face consequences, it quickly complied.
“Basically, Brendan Carr said ‘jump,’ and Nexstar took his dick out of their mouth for just long enough to say, ‘How high, exactly?’” added Oliver, noting that Sinclair then followed suit, while also pursuing merger options that require FCC approval.
“The sequence of events here could not be clearer, because it was all done in plain view,” Oliver explained. “Carr leaned on broadcasters to take down Kimmel. They did that, sometimes even directly citing Carr while doing so, and then Carr celebrated with a fun GIF. That sure seems like a pretty clear case of the government pressuring companies to censor speech. And it’s not like Trump is even trying to hide it.”
Oliver then pointed out that he should be safe at HBO as it isn’t on broadcast and therefore, “much less susceptible to pressure from the FCC,” adding: “That is obviously very good news for us, and I really don’t see why that situation should change anytime soon.”
The comedian then played clips of news coverage about Paramount‘s potential bid for Warner Bros., launching into an expletive-laden rant.
Known for his ‘Prove Me Wrong’ debates and MAGA POV, activist Kirk was shot dead at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 in a tragedy that has sent shock through the political and media worlds.
Having previously mocked Trump over POTUS’ take on the NFL and TikTok, Kimmel offered his blunt assessment of the aftermath of Kirk’s death in his opening monologue on his Sept. 15 show: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
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