There’s Now a $100,000 “Hey John Oliver! Back Off My Charter School!” Contest
This has to be one of the more intriguing reactions to a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver piece including that time Oliver had to shut down his church over what was being sent to him in the mail.
While people will probably never stop debating whether Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is more a civics class parading as satirical comedy show or vice versa, the issues that he deep dives into really do get some people heated.
The recent piece on how some charter schools (and Oliver is clear about ‘some’ and ‘not all’ and that he is not against charter schools as a whole) are poorly run has inevitably upset some of those on the side of charter schools. Their anger has been the fuel for this video contest that calls for a response from charter schools to respond to Oliver’s segment and will award $100,000 to the best one.
Such actions make you wonder how the public has blurred the line between of Oliver being a comedian and a journalist even though Oliver, time and time again, denies there being a “John Oliver effect”.