John Oliver has never shied away from biting the hand that feeds him.
Over the years, the Last Week Tonight host has called taken several shots at HBO parent company AT&T, which he condescendingly refers to as “Business Daddy” and has frequently mocked what he calls its “terrible” service.
He also took jabs at AT&T during a segment about robocalls and went on a rant over the company’s support of “white nationalist” Steve King.
Last week, AT&T and Discovery Inc. unveiled their plan to merge their media and entertainment assets in a deal that will bring together cable networks including CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Channel; the Warner Bros. film studio; and streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav will lead the merged company as CEO.
And on Sunday, Oliver took a jab at his new (and old) corporate bosses. At the end of his opening credits, Oliver always features a little mention of that week’s big news that he doesn’t address on the show.
This week, the credits showed the AT&T logo exploding into a ball of fire, with the words: “I Hope The New Different Rich Idiots Don’t Fuck This Up” and “Corporate Parent” underneath that.
He did not mention the merger during the show, focusing his main segment on sponsored content in local news.