Following the news that a high-ranking Justice Department attorney, Liz Oyer, was seemingly fired for opposing the restoration of Mel Gibson‘s gun rights after he lost them due to a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction, John Oliver took a jab at the scandal-riddled actor and director himself.
The host kicked off Last Week Tonight by saying Gibson, “best known for his work in screaming,” had a damning Wikipedia section filled with details on his various controversies, but that the real gem was his father’s entry.
“I recommend you check out his Wikipedia page, and while you’re there, check out his dad’s,” he quipped. “Because the opening paragraph alone is spectacular. ‘Hutton Peter Gibson was an American conspiracy theorist, holocaust denier, writer on sedevacantism’ — which is a belief that there hasn’t been a valid pope since 1958 — ‘a World War II veteran, the Jeopardy! grand champion for 1968 and the father of 11 children, one of whom is the actor and director Mel Gibson.’ That is a fascinating man! Imagine having so many terrible views that producing Mel Gibson is not the worst thing about you.”
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Tying in that news with Mahmoud Khalil‘s detention, which the ACLU has condemned as “unlawful,” Oliver said president Donald Trump’s claim that the arrest was to crack down on antisemitism is “pretty rich, given the top DOD press secretary was recently found to have a history of racist and antisemitic tweets; Musk and JD Vance both recently supported Germany’s AFD, a party with ties to neo-Nazis; and of course, there was this sh– [flashing on screen an image of Musk’s Nazi-like salute] and that was all before you get to the efforts this week to make sure that this f—ing guy [Gibson] — whose views on the Jews are let’s say a matter of public record — got his guns back.”
Adding of Khalil, a Columbia student who has said antisemitism has no place in his activism and has been supported by Jewish classmates on campus, Oliver said, “Maybe you feel differently about the Israel-Palestine conflict than Khalil, maybe you don’t agree with things that I’ve said about it, but if someone can be deported as a green card holder for speech in support of Palestine or anything else this administration objects to, that should chill you to the bone. And I’ll be honest, anyone who’s been through the U.S. immigration process has probably had a lot of anxious feelings stirred up this week. I came here to start working at The Daily Show on a visa; when we started this show, I had a green card and five years ago, I became a citizen. I know what it’s like to live in constant fear of being kicked out of somewhere you see as your home.”
Oliver concluded his opening segment by calling the arrest a “f—ing disgrace” and stating that the public response toward it should be “unequivocal.”
“Rights, like freedom of speech, are a fundamental part of living in this country,” he said, “and if we do not protect them, then unfortunately like the Teslas inexplicably for sale on the White House lawn this week, they could be going, going, gone.”
The post John Oliver Takes Jab At Mel Gibson Following Justice Dept. Attorney Firing: “Best Known For His Work In Screaming” appeared first on Deadline.
