Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
John Oliver Is Running Educational Fact Ads On The Shows Trump Watches
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 13, 2017
Modified Feb 13, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 13, 2017
Modified Feb 13, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Last night John Oliver returned from a three month vacation to resume Last Week Tonight and wasted no time plunging straight into the nauseating surreality of President Donald Trump. Though Oliver said recently that his show will try to avoid drowning in Trump coverage, the season's debut episode was fully focused on President Paraquat and his never-ending torrent of bullshit. "[Trump] even lied about the weather at his inauguration,” Oliver began, after showing a clip of Trump insisting God stopped the rain from falling during his speech. “We have a president capable of standing in the rain and saying it was a sunny day.”
Oliver wraps up his very funny/very disturbing deep dive into Trump's delusional behavior by announcing that he will try to smuggle some facts into the president's media diet by running ads on the cable shows he loves so much. One ad features a cowboy segueing from catheters into an explainer on what the nuclear triad is, while another helpfully explains that "not all black people live in the inner cities, and not all people in the inner cities are black," as country music plays in the background.
Oliver said the ads will run this morning on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC in D.C., and "until we're shut down, we are prepared to educate Donald Trump one by one on topics we're pretty sure he doesn't know about."
Tagged
donald trump
HBO
john oliver
last week tonight
president trump
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
"Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger," says the co-owner of Art of Play.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 13, 2026 at 3:17 p.m. ET
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Arts & Entertainment
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
Thanks to Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet and more, the rideshare program is having a moment.
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Inside a photographer's journey to visit every neighborhood in New York City
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .