Expat Liverpudlian John Oliver is at the centre of a social media storm after Sky TV cut jokes related to the death of Queen Elizabeth II from the latest episode of Emmy Award-winning current affairs show Last Week Tonight With John Oliver for its UK broadcast.
Oliver was in typically biting form, taking aim at superfluous tributes to the late monarch from brands such as Domino’s Pizza and cartoon mobile phone favourite Crazy Frog.
The topical comic, who was born in Birmingham but is a Liverpool fan who claims strong links to his parents’ Knotty Ash and Wirral origins said: “It is a big moment, and for some reason, absolutely everyone felt they had to wade in.”
Twitter user Lindsay Sargeant (@SargeantLc) said: “Don’t censor my @LastWeekTonight. I am British, I am a monarchist and I CAN TAKE A JOKE!!! @SkyUK. If @iamjohnoliver wants to have an intelligent, jovial, factual opinion about our queen I wanna hear it. FFS! The coverage and forced mourning here is getting real out of hand.”
Fellow Tweeter Ross McKillop (@rsmck) noted that Oliver was actually criticising corporate social media’s attempts to jump on the mourning bandwagon rather than The Queen herself. He said: “Very disappointed in @SkyUK censorship of @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver – we condemn other countries for this sort of behaviour. The audience is used to his irreverent style and light hearted comments. The “target” of his remarks was corporate social media!”
Neither Sky nor Oliver has so far commented on the decision to censor the show. Last Week Tonight With John Oliver won its seventh late-night Emmy in a row in the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category on Monday night.
