Oliver is pretty passionate about this week’s topic.
In a bizarre opening in this week’s episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver kicks off by talking about his childhood hero, Jimmy Savile (via some footage by none other than RTE News, believe it or not).
He ends what turns out to be a segue by stating that once the world found out what Savile was after he had died, they changed everything that had been named after him or built because of him, as the “honour” of who he was and what he stood for no longer applied.
This is the parallel and eventual comparison he makes to the Confederacy in America, something that should be edited in the present despite whatever standing it may have had in the past.
Oliver goes into some pretty profound and worrying detail about the folks today who get annoyed about statues being taken down, with the majority either unaware or simply choosing not to believe that the primary reason the confederacy existed at all is because they differed from the North in terms of whether or not slavery was a good thing.
One particular highlight is a defender of the Confederate flag telling a black man the reason why his family didn’t have any slaves. It is … jaw-dropping.
Clips via LastWeekTonight
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
