John Oliver has weighed in on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, describing Vladimir Putin as a “warmonger” and a “huge b****”.
The British-American comedian made the remarks on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, his popular HBO comedy series.
During the episode, Oliver called out former US president George W Bush for his statement about the Russian-Ukrainian war, flagging one line in particular from Bush’s response: “I join the international community in condemning Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.”
“Hold on, George. Not from you,” said Oliver, alluding to the US’s invasion of Iraq, which transpired under Bush’s leadership. “You are not the guy for this one. Because that statement only would have made sense if it ended with ‘Oh s***, now I hear it. Sorry. I’ll shut the f*** up now.’”
Oliver then played a clip of a conversation between Putin and Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
In the clip, Naryshkin could be seen arguing for more diplomacy before the invasion, but gets visibly intimidated by Putin’s questioning.
“Putin is a lot of things,” said Oliver. “He’s an autocrat. He’s a tyrant. He’s a warmonger. But he’s also kind of a huge b****.
“Unfortunately for that guy, he clearly forgot the best strategy for public speaking in Russia which is, just imagine the entire audience in their underwear, and Vladimir Putin pointing a pistol at your head. It really focuses the mind.”
The comedian also described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “completely indefensible”.
“You cannot make a case for what is happening,” he added.
Multiple celebrities have reacted to the crisis since war was declared last week.
Singer Miley Cyrus described the situation in Ukraine as “heart-breaking” in a Twitter statement on Friday (25 February).
John Cena drew criticism from social media users after he appeared to use Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to promote his HBO series Peacemaker.
You can follow live updates on the Russia-Ukraine crisis here.
