John Oliver takes on Confederate statues

John Oliver took Confederate statues to task on his Sunday night show, which featured a cameo from fellow late-night comedian Stephen Colbert.

In a 20-minute segment on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight”, Oliver broke down the arguments surrounding the proposed removal of Confederate statues in the U.S., which was at the center of protests by white supremacist and Nazi groups and counterprotests in Charlottesville, Va., in August.

One woman was killed after a man drove a car into a crowd of counterprotestors. An ensuing political controversy erupted after President Trump spoke of how there were good people on both sides of the protests, and spoke in support of keeping the statues up as part of American history.

Oliver compared the situation to that of Jimmy Savile, a children’s entertainer and philanthropist who was revered in the U.K. until after this death, when it was revealed that he had been a predatory sex offender.

After his past came to light, the U.K. removed Savile’s headstone, as well as statues and street signs that honored him.

“Once we found out that he was a monster, we accepted that it was no longer appropriate to publicly glorify him.”

In reference to Savile, Oliver called the Confederacy “America’s tracksuit sex offender.”

{mosads}“For many Confederate monuments … this isn’t a close call,” Oliver said. “This is your babysitter showing up in a Jimmy Savile T-shirt.”

Oliver said towns and cities should remove Confederate statues and put them in museums.

“If we really want to learn from and honor our history, perhaps the first step might be to put most of these statues somewhere more appropriate,” Oliver said. “Somewhere surrounded by ample historical context, like in a museum, where people go to proactively learn about history.”

He pitched ideas for replacement statues of notable figures such as Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female pilot. He ended the segment by revealing a statue idea for Charleston, S.C.

“Why have a divisive Confederate statue when instead, that pedestal can be filled by your favorite son, the actual Stephen Colbert, who will stand up there all day telling you fun facts about your wonderful town?” Oliver said.

At that point, Colbert came out to end the show by listing facts about his hometown.

Colbert and Oliver both got their start in political comedy on “The Daily Show.”