John Oliver Applies Chinese Anti-Muslim Censorship Tactics to ‘House of Cards’ (Video)
John Oliver used the majority of his Sunday “Last Week Tonight” episode sharing tips for voluminous eyelashes. Just kidding, the HBO host totally swerved you guys into sitting through the vitally serious topic of human rights abuses Uighur people, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, are facing at the hands of the Chinese government.
Oliver also edited Kevin Spacey out of “House of Cards” last night, and gave Tom Cruise’s 2002 movie “Minority Report” three stars (out of four or five, we’re not sure).
Later, he made a lighthearted Scientology comparison to the Chinese reeducation/vocation camps, which Oliver said “sure sound prison-like,” housing so many Uighurs. We’re not sure if that one was a comedic coincidence or a more direct callback to the Cruise stuff.
Anyway, it was all an effective mix of complete sincerity, horror and humor. That’s pretty much the M.O. of Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight.”
First, on Spacey, whom Netflix parted ways with after the actor was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
A few years back, when a Chinese reality show traveled to Dubai, China’s state-controlled TV censored a Muslim woman’s headscarf and hijab in “the weirdest possible way.” Those are Oliver’s words, but yes, we concur — especially when the woman was Photoshopped into an animated cactus in a Santa Claus cap.
The HBO late-night show applied the same level of dedication and ridiculousness to Spacey’s Frank Underwood character in Netflix’s “House of Cards.”
“Now you can enjoy ‘House of Cards’ just as much as you used to, which was, a bit,” Oliver quipped.
If his true goal was to enhance the overall viewing experience for fans of the series, Oliver probably should have edited out the entirety of “House of Cards” Season 6.
Watch Oliver do his educate/entertain thing via the video above.
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” airs Sundays at 11 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. All six seasons of “House of Cards” are available for streaming on Netflix. Unfortunately, Spacey has not (yet) been replaced with a desert plant in a holiday hat.
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