John Oliver delivers brutal takedown of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson
After a three-week break, John Oliver is back on HBO’s Last Week Tonight — just in time for Boris Johnson’s appointment as U.K.’s next Prime Minister.
Oliver set his sights on who everyone has been dubbing the “Britain Donald Trump” to explain Johnson is not the Britain Donald Trump, even though “Britain’s new leader is a clownish figure with silly hair and a passing relationship with the truth.” He’s more “complex,” Oliver explains.
“That has been the root of Boris’ appeal: a lovable mess weathering adversity with humor and good cheer. But the truth is, there may be a great deal more calculation behind that image than appears,” he says.
The host unpacked Johnson’s intentional look as “a cartoon Englishman who dresses like the raccoon who just emerged from David Foster Wallace’s trash,” suggesting it’s one of many gaffes done as a “calculated manipulation” of the public.
Of course, there’s also the “outright bigotry” Johnson uses aside from being “a liar,” Oliver points out. “He’s made repeated references to some immigrants as people who want to ‘leech off the state,’ and over the years he’s made references to ‘piccaninnies,’ he said the people of Congo had ‘watermelon smiles,’ he’s called gay men ‘tank-topped bumboys,’ and just last week, there was this.”
Last Week Tonight then aired a news clip of Johnson writing about women wearing burqas as looking “like letter boxes” and comparing them to “bank robbers.”
“That is an appalling comment that leaves a truly disgusting taste in your mouth,” Oliver said.
Either you swing it, especially as the Brexit deadline is looming, Oliver agrees, “The U.K. is about to be completely f—ed.”
Watch the full takedown in the video above.
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