A studio for Iranian state TV was caught in the line of an Israeli airstrike last week, just as anchor Sahar Emami was going live with her news broadcast. She was able to safely evacuate, but later returned to finish the broadcast — a move that stunned “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver on Sunday evening.
The latest episode of the HBO news show kicked off by touching on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, showing a clip of CNN’s coverage of the explosion. As it ended, Oliver was floored by the fact that Emami returned to the studio after the strike.
“Holy s–t, she came back?!” he marveled. “That is wild. To be very clear, I wouldn’t willingly finish this broadcast if the air conditioning broke!”
From there, Oliver briefly dug in on what might happen if the U.S. were to get involved in the conflict. But, the episode was taped on Saturday, before President Trump announced on social media that the U.S. had indeed launched military strikes of its own.
Acknowledging that timing, Oliver conceded that it’s possible things could have changed between the taping and its airing, for the worse or, less likely, for the better. But, as he finished, he returned to applaud Emami one more time.
“Right now, I do know three things for sure. This situation is very worrying, we don’t want to be dragged into yet another war in the Middle East and, for the record, if there is ever an explosion, a fire drill, or even a medium-sized mouse anywhere near this desk, unlike this woman, I am f–king out of here.”
The latest episode of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” is now streaming on Max. New episodes air Sundays at 11 p.m. ET.
