John Oliver buys time on Trinidadian TV, but will anyone hear him?
People gather to watch John Oliver’s television broadcast at How’Zat sports bar in Port of Spain, Trinidad And Tobago.
Comedian John Oliver took his crusade against FIFA to new extremes Tuesday night, using a paid broadcast on Trinidad’s TV6 network to attack the organization’s former Vice President Jack Warner.
In the four-minute address, titled “The Mittens of Disapproval Are On,” Oliver urged Warner, indicted on charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering, to turn over the incriminating information he claimed to have on FIFA in his own paid broadcast last week.
Since launching his HBO show, “Last Week Tonight,” in April 2014, has carved out a niche in the crowded late-night field as a practitioner of elaborate satirical stunts, some of which have yielded real-world impact.
But it’s unclear yet whether Oliver’s latest gambit will pay off. Warner, a leader of the Independent Liberal Party who has also been accused of pocketing funds intended for Haiti earthquake relief, has yet to respond to Oliver, either through his website or with another paid broadcast on Trinidad’s TV6.
While clips from “Last Week Tonight” often go viral and rack up millions of views on YouTube, so far “The Mittens of Disapproval Are On” has not been made available online through official channels.
Oliver’s broadcast has made some waves in Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean nation of 1.2 million people.
“The Mittens of Disapproval Are On” is the most-watched clip on TV6’s website, and has also attracted local media attention. A writer for Trinidad’s Daily Express called Oliver’s time buy “more bad news for Trinidad and Tobago’s international image.”
Speaking with The Times, the station’s general manager Rhonda Ottley declined to share specific information about advertising rates, saying only that “we charge the appropriate amount for prime time.”
Though it’s unclear how much it cost HBO to buy time on TV6, it’s fairly certain it cost more than a few six packs of Bud Light Lime.
The real winner in all this? TV6.
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