John Oliver won’t be changing how “Last Week Tonight” does business anytime soon — even in the face of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and a yet-unknown new owner.
While interviewing on Trevor Noah’s podcast “What Now” Thursday, the HBO late night host was adamant that there would not be changes made to the show no matter who owns them. Oliver — who’s already been through two Warner Bros. mergers over the years — also raised questions about the legality of Netflix or Paramount continue taking ownership as they continue vying for control.
“I mean, it’s going to get tied up in courts because you can’t really – there are going to be question marks on all of this, right?” Oliver said. “Because it’s very hard to justify this legally. Now, whether that makes it impossible for it to happen, that’s an open question. But again, you can’t waste time worrying about something that you’re not going to listen to anyway.”
He added: “It feels like we’re just going to do what we do. They’re going to –whoever ‘they’ are – is going to have to realize either you ignore us … or you’re going to have to take us around the back of the woodshed.”
Watch the full interview below:
Oliver previously spoke candidly during his show about the idea of Paramount buying WBD and becoming the owners of “Last Week Tonight” network HBO. The callout came while the host zeroed in on how presidents obtain funding for their presidential libraries, and broke down how, more often than not, donations can really just be legal bribes.
He then drew comparisons to Paramount reaching a $16 million settlement with Trump and canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” right before their merger with Skydance.
“Please stay the f–k away from us,” Oliver said bluntly of the speculation WBD was next on Paramount’s checklist. “You are not my real business daddy, and you never will be!”
After Paramount went nuclear this week and sued Warner Bros. Discovery to extract more information about its Netflix deal’s terms, Netflix is considering amending its deal for WBD’s studio and streaming assets to be all-cash as it looks to expedite its closing and fend off Paramount CEO David Ellison’s $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid, according to Bloomberg.
