Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: Brexit Update (HBO)

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: Brexit Update (HBO) The late night comedian John Oliver has let fly with expletive-laden take down of Britain's vote to quit the European Union, and warned the Brexit vote was a cautionary tale for Americans thinking of voting for Donald Trump. The British born political commentator and comedic host of HBO's Last Week Tonight disputed the assertions of Brexit cheerleaders, the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right UK Independence Party, that the vote turned June 23 into Independence Day. John Oliver: 'It seems like whoever the next UK prime minister is going to be, whether it's Boris Johnson or a racist tea kettle, they are going to be in for a rough few years.' John Oliver: 'It seems like whoever the next UK prime minister is going to be, whether it's Boris Johnson or a racist tea kettle, they are going to be in for a rough few years.' Photo: Last Week Tonight "First, Britain was already independent," Oliver said. "In fact, it's what many other countries celebrate their independence from. Second, the sequel to the movie they're quoting [Independence Day] actually opened this week, and features the wholesale destruction of London, which is beginning to feel pretty f---ing appropriate right now." Earlier this month Oliver came to world attention when he staged what may be the largest giveaway in TV history by forgiving some $US15 million ($20.3 million) in medical debt. Oliver pointed to the swift and destructive fallout of the majority vote, including the freefall in global stocks, a weak British pound and the resignation of the Prime Minister David Cameron. Television host John Oliver took aim against Brexit architects and Donald Trump in an expletive-laden rant. Television host John Oliver took aim against Brexit architects and Donald Trump in an expletive-laden rant. Photo: Last Week Tonight The resignation of Cameron should have made him happy "but in this situation, it doesn't," he said. "It's like catching an ice cream cone out of the air because a child was hit by a car. I mean, I'll eat it, I'll eat it but it's tainted somehow. And before you have any sympathy for David Cameron you should know the vote was his idea in the first place." The Brexit vote had exposed cheerleaders, Johnson and Farage, and shown them to have exaggerated the benefits to the National Health Service. These men would be left to negotiate the exit terms from the European Union, likely to be harsh in order to dissuade other European partners from following Britain's lead. "It seems like whoever the next UK prime minister is going to be, whether it's Boris Johnson or a racist tea kettle, they are going to be in for a rough few years," Oliver said. Oliver criticised the ignorance of some voters for not thinking through the consequences and warned lives hung in the balance. He played an interview from a Portuguese mother, who lived and worked in the UK. With a daughter born in Portugal, and another born in UK, she had told them she didn't know what their future would be. Oliver responded: "Perhaps I can help you with that, because it's easy. Just tell them that they might be screwed, because a pig f---er called for a vote, a bus had some bullshit written on it, and then two idiots named Nigel and Boris quoted President Bill Pullman (Independence Day). They'll get it. They'll totally understand!" Lest Americans think they might be spared the political debacle of Brexit, Oliver turned his comic attention to the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump: "You might think, 'Well, that is not going to happen to us in America. We're not going to listen to some ridiculously haired buffoon peddling lies and nativism in the hopes of riding a protest vote into power.' Well, let Britain tell you it can happen. And when it does, there are no f---ing do-overs." Source: http://ift.tt/291F59t