Skip to content
Bramble

Entertainment

John Oliver jokes about Skydance ownership at end of Last Week Tonight episode

On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver joked that he was "thrilled to be part of the Skydance family" and that the show is "never gonna change". Trade outlets covered it after Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

3 outlets · 2L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Variety
Image: Deadline

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Left · 2At the end of Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver said: "I'm thrilled to be part of the Skydance family! Hope you're happy with what you bought, guys! We're never gonna change!" Left · 2Oliver made the remark right after a bit about Liberty Mutual's mascot, Liberty Biberty, in which Oliver showed the character in suggestive poses and encouraged viewers to share such images to get the mascot dropped from the company's ads. Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter says Skydance has acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO, the show's network home, and that Skydance also acquired Paramount last year. It says Oliver did not address the acquisition on the previous week's episode.

Left · 1Earlier in the episode, during the main segment on generic medications and the FDA's inspections of overseas drug makers, Oliver joked about the studio's cleanliness and said Oliver was "just trying to get out ahead of any Paramount budget cuts". Left · 1The main story was about generic medications and national drug shortages. Left · 1Before that, Oliver mocked a scandal involving Kimberly Guilfoyle, the Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to Greece, as "pretty tacky". Variety reports that, according to text messages obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Trump donor Eric Deters alleges Guilfoyle asked him to pay off her $100,000 American Express bill days before her confirmation. The allegation is Deters's, and the coverage does not report a response from Guilfoyle.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Both trade outlets treat the Skydance quip as a light, tongue-in-cheek moment from the show; neither reports a reaction from Skydance or HBO. Variety leads with it as the 'big news' at the end of an episode otherwise covered through the Guilfoyle segment, and the Hollywood Reporter makes it the whole story and ties it to the corporate acquisitions.
Emphasis
Variety stresses the quote and Oliver's jokes about Guilfoyle; the Hollywood Reporter stresses the Skydance/Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery ownership context and the Paramount budget-cuts joke.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither reports a response from Skydance, HBO or Guilfoyle. Variety does not explain the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, which the Hollywood Reporter does.
Charged language
“pretty tacky”“Never Gonna Change”
For example
“But the big news came at the very end of the program” — Variety
“John Oliver made a couple of jokey references to his new corporate parent on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight.” — The Hollywood Reporter

Centre1 outlet

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.