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John Oliver Ranks Muppets' Sex Appeal & Fixes The Miranda Warning
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 14, 2015
Modified Sep 14, 2015
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 14, 2015
Modified Sep 14, 2015
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Last night on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver once again peered into the abyss of the American criminal justice system, homing in on the plight of low-income defendants and the overworked public defenders assigned to represent them. During the course of a very funny and very enraging segment, Oliver looked at the many indigent arrestees who can't afford bail and agree to a plea bargain despite their innocence, simply to get out of jail.
"Our public defender system is dangerously under-resourced," Oliver notes. "One report found that 40% of all county-based public defenders have no investigators on staff. That's 40% of lawyers forced to sit at their desks Googling 'where to get exonerating evidence' and hitting 'I'm feeling lucky.'"
Ever the absurdist, Oliver somehow makes time to rank the Muppets "in order of fuckability" and lambaste a Kickstarter for a giant inflatable Lionel Richie head. He also shares truly incredible courtroom security camera footage showing a Florida judge ("of course it was Florida") challenging a public defender to a fistfight. It's all so ludicrous and appalling that the rewritten Miranda warning video that caps the segment seems like something America actually needs.
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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.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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