Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

John Oliver mocks Trump for claiming he is ‘the least racist person in the room’

TV host called president’s behaviour ‘appalling’

Ellie Harrison
Monday 26 October 2020 08:43 GMT
Comments
Donald Trump says he's 'the least racist person in this room'

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

John Oliver delivered a take-down of Donald Trump on Sunday evening’s episode of Last Week Tonight (25 October), calling the president’s behaviour “absolutely appalling”.

Trump and Joe Biden went head to head in a presidential debate on Thursday (22 October), during which the president declared he was the “least racist person in the room”.

“That is strange for multiple reasons," Oliver said, including the fact that “that room contained his family. So he’s effectively throwing them under the bus.”

Oliver also noted that the media response to this debate was that Trump was on his best behaviour, with one newscaster even noting that “no one set themselves on fire”.

“What is really sad here,” said Oliver, “is that when people claim Trump was on his best behaviour, that’s actually true. But his best behaviour is still absolutely appalling because even when the bar is so low as to be virtually non-existent… the unshakable fact is unless you set the bar at ‘nobody caught fire’, Trump will always find a way to disappoint.”

The final presidential debate, which took place ahead of the US election on 3 November, provoked a strong reaction from celebrities on Twitter, with Mark Ruffalo, John Legend and Debra Messing among the stars to share their thoughts. 

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in