Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, The X-Files

Last Week Tonight: John Oliver on U.S. Government's Handling of UFOs

On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver tackled the U.S. government & media's generational misinformation efforts toward UFO eyewitnesses.

As much as HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tackles the current events of serious social, domestic, and international importance, occasionally, it will focus on the ongoing timeless topics that humanity hasn't tackled properly yet – like Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs, the subject of a recent episode. Much of science fiction and pop culture was molded by witness accounts of UFOs and the mysterious classified incidents at Roswell, New Mexico, over 70 years ago. UFOs and shadow government conspiracies were at the heart of the FOX series The X-Files, with host John Oliver referencing the "I Want to Believe" poster from FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), "It should've said 'Believe, Shmelieve, What The Fuck Is That Thing?'" Ryan Coogler, please let Oliver cameo in your reboot!

Last Week Tonight Focuses on the UFO Phenomenon & Government Cover-Ups

Oliver opened by recapping the American obsession with UFOs since 1947, and the role of the U.S. government and mainstream media either deceived or dismissed the bulk of eyewitness testimonials. "From the very beginning of our modern obsession with UFOs, there's been a belief that our government is keeping something from us and that mistrust has been well-earned," he said before contrasting UFO witness reports and extraterrestrials aren't mutually exclusive. "While you can believe aliens exist or not, when it comes to UFOs, belief doesn't really come into it. Whatever they are, people are seeing them."

The host went into ongoing coverup efforts from the U.S. government revealing multiple secret projects from experimental flight craft to weather balloons. "But it's not just that the government has covered itself with glory when it comes to studying UFOs. It has also actively engaged in cover-ups about them—though not necessarily in the ways or for the reasons that the History Channel might have you believe," Oliver continued.

Oliver broke down further how it was only in 1997 that the Pentagon finally revealed what the debris was in Roswell from 1947 from a top-secret military project: code name: MOGUL and weather balloons designed to monitor Soviet nuclear tests. "That does make more sense. Although it is hard to take the government's word for it, given they had just admitted they'd been lying for 50 years," he said before discussing the 2010 AATIP (Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program). For more, including former President Jimmy Carter's UFO sightings and more recent developments, you can check out the video.

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