Last Week Tonight with John Oliver talks sexual harassment, Anita Hill

It was only a matter of time before Last Week Tonight with John Oliver really focused on sexual harassment in the wake of the Me Too movement. Well, that time was tonight, as the majority of the show was geared around this subject.

From the start, Oliver joked that this was the time for everyone to get the male-dominated perspective on sexual perspective that they were craving. From there, he compared the movement today to in the early nineties, which was a movement sparked in part by the testament of Anita Hill. (We recommend that you go watch Confirmation to get a better sense of what happened way back when.)

What Oliver did when it comes to issues in the present is look at a number of different workplace environments in which sexual harassment and misconduct have been prevalent — look at the U.S. Forest Service, for example, then also Fox News. Oliver also did skewer Matt Lauer for an interview that he did with Bill O’Reilly.

The real coup for Oliver in this segment was eventually getting an interview with Hill where they talked about sexual harassment back in the nineties in comparison to where things are right now. They also talked about the state of the law right now on harassment and certain things that do need to be cleared up.

Hill showed a sense of humor, but also an intelligence and seriousness in taking on the subject matter. We haven’t seen Oliver go off-location to do many interviews this season, but we are really happy that he chose to do so here. Hill is the sort of historical figure who could provide great perspective on what is happening, largely because she was there even before the age of the internet being attacked. Can you imagine what would’ve happened to her in the age of social media? There are many lessons that men and women both can learn from what happened decades ago, and we certainly hope that they learn it. The public needs to listen and show compassion; meanwhile, the government needs more standards of their own.

What was also fascinating was hearing Oliver admit to not speaking out in a way that he should have upon seeing inappropriate behavior in the past. He claimed that he was afraid to do so due to the power dynamics and he used that opportunity to get advice from Hill as how he could have better handled the situation.

Related – See Oliver’s take on the Michael Cohen tapes

What do you think about Oliver discussing sexual harassment as a main subject tonight? Share right now in the comments!

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