Talk-show host John Oliver has become a hot topic in the town of Danbury, Connecticut, as the town’s officials decide to hit back after his recent remarks about their city.
The Danbury mayor, Mark Boughton, announced in a video uploaded to Facebook, “We are going to rename it the John Oliver Memorial Sewage Plant. Why? Because it’s full of crap. Just like you, John.”
The video was made in response to the new episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, in which the talk show host drew attention to racial discrimination in the process of jury selection and pointed out problems in a few Connecticut towns.
He also took a dig at the city itself, saying, “I know exactly three things about Danbury – USA Today ranked it the second-best city to live in in 2015, it was once the centre of the American hat industry and if you’re from there, you have a standing invite to come get a thrashing from John Oliver – children included – **** you.”
Twitter was quick to react to the episode and the video, with many coming forward to defend the 14-time Primetime Emmy award winner. Here are some of the tweets:
It's not exactly clear as to why the British comedian had launched into a tirade against Connecticut, in which he also took a dig at Boughton and other mayors for attempting to lure Amazon’s headquarters through videos. In Boughton’s video, he asks Amazon’s Alexa where the best place for a facility would be, to which Alexa replies Danbury. A message seeking comment has been left for Oliver's agent.
At the end of the video, the mayor says, “And by the way, thanks for showing the Amazon video. We did get Amazon here in Danbury.”
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