HBO’s John Oliver had a nearly 40-minute long meltdown on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight as he denounced Paramount CEO David Ellison’s decision to name Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News. Despite Weiss being a liberal who simply thinks the left has gone too far on things like DEI, transgenderism, and Israel, Oliver lamented that Ellison has inserted “right-leaning opinion journalism into an American icon.”
Towards the end of his Moddowian lament, Oliver played a clip of Weiss denouncing DEI and followed up by declaring, “Yeah, and that itself is a whole worldview right there. "You know this DEI thing we've been trying, where we acknowledge not everyone's been getting equal access to opportunity? Let's just roll back the clock on that. Also, let's be anti-anti-racist, and not think too much about what that might make us.’”
Much like how some people want you to think anti-fascism is simply opposition to fascism, Oliver wants you to think anti-racism is simply opposition to racism.
As for Weiss, Oliver continued, “DEI is actually one of her favorite targets. She's also said it's ‘undermining America,’ is ‘about arrogating power,’ and that it ‘demonizes hard work, merit, family, and the dignity of the individual.’ And look, it's not new, or indeed interesting, that a commentator would say that. There are plenty of them out there. And there'll always be an audience for those who want to make that case. And the truth is, we wouldn't even have done this story were it not for the fact that Bari Weiss has just been named editor-in-chief of CBS News. And that feels different.
It feels different because Oliver is used to having CBS promote his leftist ideology as the truth.
Oliver then claimed, “I wouldn't want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one I happen to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News. But it's especially alarming to have someone doing that who's spent years putting out work that, in my opinion, is, at best, irresponsible, and at worst, deeply misleading.”
Earlier, Oliver denounced Weiss for criticizing those who have sought to smear Israel, but Oliver has never devoted a 40-minute address to the CBS journalists who attacked colleague Tony Dokoupil for daring to challenge leftist writer Ta-Nehisi Coates nor CBS hiring Sen. Ted Kennedy’s former chief-of-staff or the brother of Obama’s deputy national security advisor to be its president.
However, Oliver then moved to Ellison, “It's not just about Bari Weiss being at CBS. It's about the fact CBS is now under the control of someone who thinks she, and her editorial sensibility, make her a good fit for the job, and who, incidentally, is reportedly preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, home of CNN and—uh-oh!—HBO. Which isn't ideal! Although I've got to say, if what he likes about Bari is that she forces him to have hard conversations that get a bit uncomfortable, maybe he'll like this!”
Seeing a trend, Oliver added, “But the thing is, it's not just about Ellison, either. Again, he's just the latest in a string of billionaires who've taken over our journalistic institutions, from The Washington Post to The LA Times, and started making worrying changes. And whatever complaints I might've had with their coverage before, and I've had plenty! My solution would never have been this.”
Oliver claims to differentiate between news organizations and opinion websites, but it is the Post’s opinion section that has shifted towards free markets.
Nevertheless, Oliver warned, “It's worth keeping an eye out for subtle changes there. Because while I'm sure many of CBS's good journalists will continue to do great work, if you start seeing people resigning, or getting fired, or you start seeing stories that seem off in some way, especially if it involves ‘the left going too far’ on a topic Bari Weiss cares about, it's worth asking yourself why that might be.
Apparently, good journalism should not focus on the excesses of the left, only the right. As it was, Oliver concluded with a callback to earlier in the show, “Unfortunately, the much bigger answer might be that a billionaire has chosen to inject contrarian, right-leaning opinion journalism into an American icon, even if—much like that Thanksgiving Day Spider-Man—it has absolutely no fucking business being there.
Oliver, like much of the left, thinks it is their birthright to control the country’s largest news organizations. CBS, the network of Dan Rather and 60 Minutes, is not to be held up as an icon. It is to be reformed, and if Weiss and Ellison can do that, then the country will be better off.
Here is a transcript for the October 12 show:
HBO Last Week Tonight
10/12/2025
11:44 PM ET
JOHN OLIVER: Yeah, and that itself is a whole worldview right there. "You know this DEI thing we've been trying, where we acknowledge not everyone's been getting equal access to opportunity? Let's just roll back the clock on that. Also, let's be anti-anti-racist, and not think too much about what that might make us."
DEI is actually one of her favorite targets. She's also said it's "undermining America," is “about arrogating power,” and that it "demonizes hard work, merit, family, and the dignity of the individual." And look, it's not new, or indeed interesting, that a commentator would say that. There are plenty of them out there. And there'll always be an audience for those who want to make that case. And the truth is, we wouldn't even have done this story were it not for the fact that Bari Weiss has just been named editor-in-chief of CBS News. And that feels different.
Because there are many opinion-heavy outlets out there from left to right, and with low to high editorial standards. This show is, among other things, an opinion outlet, and while our staff works incredibly hard to research stories before we write something, and vigorously check our facts afterwards, we're also not the news.
And I wouldn't want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one I happen to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News. But it's especially alarming to have someone doing that who's spent years putting out work that, in my opinion, is, at best, irresponsible, and at worst, deeply misleading. And look, it's not just about Bari Weiss being at CBS.
It's about the fact CBS is now under the control of someone who thinks she, and her editorial sensibility, make her a good fit for the job, and who, incidentally, is reportedly preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, home of CNN and — uh-oh! HBO. Which isn't ideal! Although I've got to say, if what he likes about Bari is that she forces him to have hard conversations that get a bit uncomfortable, maybe he'll like this!
But the thing is, it's not just about Ellison, either. Again, he's just the latest in a string of billionaires who've taken over our journalistic institutions, from The Washington Post to The LA Times, and started making worrying changes. And whatever complaints I might've had with their coverage before, and I've had plenty! My solution would never have been this.
Because when these takeovers get announced, it's easy to think, "Well, thank goodness there are other outlets that aren't under some billionaire's influence."
And that's true because there's always another one. Until there suddenly isn't. And I admit, I don't know what's going to happen next. Maybe Bari Weiss will completely reshape CBS News. Maybe she'll flame out and write another resignation letter heard around the world.
But it's worth keeping an eye out for subtle changes there. Because while I'm sure many of CBS’s good journalists will continue to do great work, if you start seeing people resigning, or getting fired, or you start seeing stories that seem off in some way, especially if it involves "the left going too far" on a topic Bari Weiss cares about, it's worth asking yourself why that might be.
Because unfortunately, the much bigger answer might be that a billionaire has chosen to inject contrarian, right-leaning opinion journalism into an American icon, even if — much like that Thanksgiving Day Spider-Man — it has absolutely no fucking business being there.
