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Last Week Tonight: Sky Cuts John Oliver/Queen Elizabeth II Jokes in UK

Now is that any way to treat the winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety/Talk Series? Apparently, it is if you're Comcast-owned pay television service Sky. Viewers in the UK who were looking to treat themselves to a new episode of HBO's Last Week Tonight with host John Oliver almost got their wish. We're saying "almost" because it didn't take long for them to realize that they weren't getting the whole episode. And that's because Sky cut (though censored seems to be the better word to use here) some of Oliver's jokes when it comes to the recently-deceased Queen Elizabeth II (though our first thought was that someone in the UK was a really big "Law & Order" fan).

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Image: Screencaps

So what was it that had Sky running for the scissors to do some trimming on the episode and viewers running to social media to voice their outrage? While there were a number of choice selections to choose from, Oliver paid special attention to the random line-up of companies and services that posted tributes to the late queen. "Obviously, we have to start with the U.K., which is clearly still reeling from the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes. It is a big moment [of] the week, and for some reason, absolutely everyone felt they had to wade in," Oliver said at one point, which also seems to jab at those who found her passing shocking. Oliver also used the occasion to land a blow at Liz Truss, England's new Prime Minister & Conservative Party chief. Noting that Queen Elizabeth II's death was "not the only traumatic event that Britain has had to deal with," Oliver made a direct reference to Truss. Though it seems Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery (home of HBO) have yet to comment on the matter, we can only hope that Oliver addresses it either on his show or in an earlier interview that may be in play.


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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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