Home · Entertainment · Sep 21 archive
John Oliver Mocks Ellison's Wealth During HBO Segment
Confirmed
In Short: During a segment on HBO's 'Last Week Tonight,' host John Oliver mocked David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, for his wealth and access to healthcare.
Oliver highlighted a case where a patient's parents had to pay $95,000 out-of-pocket for cancer treatments, noting that such access to healthcare should not be dependent on wealthy parents.
He then took the opportunity to take a swipe at Ellison, showing a photo of Ellison with his father, Larry Ellison, the billionaire owner of tech giant Oracle.
Oliver pointed out that Larry Ellison has agreed to personally backstop the $40.4 billion in equity financing connected to the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal.
The comedian also mentioned that the younger Ellison is in the process of trying to get regulator approval to purchase Warner Bros., which is currently under the control of Discovery, the parent company of HBO.
Oliver's segment came after he previously mocked Trump for his peculiar escape tactics in Turkey, showing a shift in focus to corporate and healthcare issues.
What this adds
The segment underscores John Oliver's use of his HBO platform to critique corporate and healthcare issues, blending humor with social commentary.
Background
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is an American news satire late-night talk show hosted by John Oliver. It airs every Sunday and runs from February to November on HBO in the United States.
What's confirmed
- “Now in the end her parents paid $95,000 out of pocket to cover the treatment, which in happy news did actually work, but having access to wealthy parents just cannot be the system to get badly needed healthcare, even if it is apparently the system that lets you be in charge of HBO,” Oliver said, showing a photo of Ellison.
- “Yeah, my soon-to-be business daddy has a literal business daddy,” he added, as the image zoomed out to show Ellison with his father Larry, the billionaire owner of tech giant Oracle, and the man who has agreed to personally backstop the $40.4 billion in equity financing connected to the Paramount-WBD deal.
What's still developing
- When we last saw John Oliver behind the desk of “ Last Week Tonight,” he was mocking Trump for sacrificing a number of members of his senior staff on a decoy plane amidst his peculiar catering truck escape in Turkey.
- Discovery — the parent company of HBO, which controls Oliver’s show “Last Week Tonight” — is making its way through the courts.