John Oliver slams his network HBO Max: 'It's not TV. It's a series of tax write-offs'

Justine Browning
·3 min read
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John Oliver has once again taken a shot at his own network HBO Max, accusing the streamer of deleting content for a "series of tax write-offs to appease Wall Street."

The jab came during Sunday night's episode, two weeks after he called out his parent company Warner Bros. Discovery over its decision to shelve the $90 million Batgirl film. It has been alleged that the company's CEO David Zaslav was motivated by being able to claim a tax write-off on the production.

Now Oliver has taken his jabs a bit further. During a segment about former vice presidential Republican candidate Sarah Palin, and her run for Alaska's house seat in a special election, Oliver referenced a quote from a New Yorker story.

"Sarah knows how to work a crowd…but it's Sarah, Inc.," he quoted. He then joked that Sarah Inc. "sounds like the title of a sitcom starring Kat Dennings that has already quietly disappeared from HBO Max," From there, Oliver reworked HBO's original slogan for what he felt was a more accurate one.

"It's not TV. It's HBO." said Oliver. "HBO Max. It's not TV. It's a series of tax write-offs to appease Wall Street."

That wasn't his first link he made between Palin and the streaming service. The TV host made fun of Palin's political run earlier in the night, joking that the move is reminiscent of 2008.

"It's like it's 2008 all over again: [Palin's] running for office, the U.S. entered a bear market, and Sex and the City is making spinoffs that it quite frankly doesn't have the material to back up," he quipped as the poster for HBO Max's revival of the show And Just Like That appeared behind him.

"Society is going backwards," he said.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

HBO John Oliver slams his network HBO Max: 'It's not TV. It's a series of tax write-offs'

Oliver's initial shot at the company came while he was discussing monkeypox.

"We let the vaccine sit unused on a shelf in our reserves like an expired Chobani or a $90 million movie on HBO Max."

"By the way, hi there, new business daddy!" he continued. "Seems like you're doing a really great job. I do get the vague sense that you're burning down my network for the insurance money, but I'm sure that that will all pass."

A number of changes have been announced by the newly merged studio, including the cancelations of Batgirl, Wonder Twins, and Scoob! Holiday Haunt. 

It's also been reported that a number of movies have quietly disappeared from the HBO Max since plans were announced to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform by the summer of 2023.

Earlier this month, news of restructuring and layoffs was followed by the reveal that 37 titles, including 20 originals, would be removed.

"As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+," HBO Max announced in a statement. "That will include the removal of some content from both platforms."

The original HBO Max titles that are no longer on the streamer include: 12 Dates of Christmas; About Last Night; Aquaman: King of Atlantis; Close Enough; Ellen's Next Great Designer; Esme & Roy; The Fungies!; Generation Hustle; Generation; Infinity Train; Little Ellen; My Mom, Your Dad; Odo; Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness; Summer Camp Island; The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo; The Runaway Bunny; Theodosia; Tig n' Seek; and Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs.

Read our full guide to find out the fate of your favorite HBO shows here.

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