John Oliver eyes up Bill O’Reilly’s vast vacant ad space to brief Trump about sexual harassment
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver is no stranger to using advertising to get a point across, indeed he previously bought up ads to help brief president Donald Trump who is an avid viewer of the broadcaster.
The comedian is now renewing his efforts to keep Trump in the loop, this time about sexual harassment, by running an ad during the O’Reilly show, which has suffered a substantial brand exodus (around 50) in response to sexual harassment allegations from former colleagues - which has set Fox back $13m in settlements.
Trump was among O’Reilly’s defenders, calling him "a good person", adding "I don't think Bill did anything wrong." The statement was recently mocked in Saturday Night Live with O’Reilly and Trump both portrayed by Alex Baldwin.
The O’Reilly Factor had just seven advertisers still on board as Thursday (6 April), following which the HBO show tried to buy of one of the many vacant spaces with the following ad to air in New York and DC.
“We have produced an ad to educate Donald Trump, we submitted it to stations on Friday but weirdly we haven’t heard back from them since, which a little surprising because we are one of the only advertisers offering to buy time on his show at the moment,” said Oliver.
He provided a sneak preview of the ad in which an elderly cowboy talks catheters: “Repeated unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks in the workplace constitutes sexual harassment. If there’s a power disparity between the two parties, well, that’s about as inappropriate as lubricating a catheter with hot sauce, partner. Why would you do that? I do not like pain when I cath.
“And if you’ve got a friend who was accused of something like that over and over again, I might think twice about defending him, because that just contributes to a culture where women don’t want to come forward.”