John Oliver gives viewers 7 min of fun news after another week of police brutality — then asks folks to protest
If white people are exhausted from the protests, the chants, the news coverage of police brutality and bad cops, imagine how exhausted people of color are living it every day. It was one reason that John Oliver called the week a "f*cking nightmare." So, he took a different approach to a week filled with mass shootings, police brutality and Derek Chauvin's defense dominating cable news.
At the top of "Last Week Tonight," Oliver noted that over the seven years that his show has been on the air, they've covered cases of white supremacy in police departments, police militarization, the overuse of municipal violations, police raids, and the lack of police accountability.
"And look, we could keep up our part in that saga," said Oliver. "I could cite statistics about police using excessive force. I could dunk on all the appalling responses from conservative media figures. I could reiterate, yet again, that what happened is completely wrong. But the fact is, we couldn't even finish writing about what happened to Daunte Wright before the city of Chicago released videos of one of their officers killing a 13-year-old unarmed child... footage which clearly contradicted the picture of an 'armed confrontation' pained by the police and the mayor, and a prosecutor who said 'Adam had a gun in his hand when he was shot.' Which he did not."
The shooting began the cycle again of calls for protests, police responding to protests with violence, protesters growing angrier, police being told to stand down, and protests calming until a few days later when the next police officer kills another person of color or unarmed child.
"I could make the same arguments to you again," Oliver explained. "I could describe the problem to you, but I think you know what it is. I could offer solutions, but I think you know what they are. I can offer you anger, but if you are a sentient human being alive right now and you are not already full of that, I honestly don't know what to say to you."
So, instead of doing all of that, Oliver decided to go in a different direction. Over the course of seven minutes, he reported funny stories, weird stories and naked Canadian political officials.
He closed the segment by asking Americans to continue taking to the streets, continue standing up for justice and for lawmakers to start proposing solutions.
See the video below: