Late-Night TV may never be the same.
HBO’s John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight,” is facing a new defamation lawsuit from health care executive Dr. Brian Morley who claims the comedian slurred him “for ratings and profits.”
In an April 2024 telecast, Oliver played an alleged audio clip of Morley at an administrative hearing saying, “People have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves and we don’t fuss over [them] too much. People are allowed to be dirty … You know, I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple of days.”
Oliver’s immediate on-air response: “F*** that doctor with a rusty canoe! I hope he gets tetanus of the balls.”
Morley’s lawyer claims the recording was altered by the program.
Suing comedians for telling the wrong jokes seems an uphill legal battle at best. The First Amendment allows for plenty of…
