John Oliver Does Not Think Trump and Vance’s Zelenskyy Ambush Was “Great Television”

John Oliver is firmly Team Zelenskyy when it comes to the Ukrainian president’s recent public spat with Donald Trump. On a modern episode of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, the comedian took shots at President Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s public ambush of Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, calling their handling of the situation “awful” and the opposite of “good television.”

Last week, Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance convened at the Oval Office for a diplomatic conversation that devolved after Vance defended Trump’s approach to Ukraine—which has been embroiled in a costly and deadly war with Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. During the meeting, Trump accused Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful,” with Vance suggesting that Zelenskyy and Ukraine were not sufficiently grateful for the US’s support. Trump then chimed in, saying Zelenskyy was not “nice” or “thankful” enough for US support. “I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States,” said Trump, before adding at the end of their tense conversation that it was going to make “great television.”

While the Kremlin seems to agree with Trump, Oliver vehemently disagrees. “That depends,” said Oliver on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight. “Is watching the president shit on a weaker ally for not wanting to be conquered while his goon VP tries to see if he can wrap his lips around his boss’s asshole from a neighboring couch ‘good television’? I’d argue it’s more ‘hit your TV with a hammer until the pain stops’ television, but reasonable people can disagree.”

He continued, saying that it was ridiculous for Vance and Trump to expect Zelenskyy to be kissing Trump’s ring. “He shouldn’t be constantly urged to say thank you,” said Oliver. “He’s a president in the middle of a war, not a toddler opening a present from Meemaw.”

Ever the Vladimir Putin apologist, Trump also criticized Zelenskyy for saying negative things about the president of Russia, with whom Zelenskyy is currently at war. “He doesn’t have to stand there and say ‘Putin this, Putin that’—all negative things,” said Trump to press after their altercation. “Yeah, what’s Putin ever done to Zelenskyy other than kill tens of thousands of people and cause untold damage to his country?” Oliver sarcastically asked on Last Week Tonight. “Can’t he find anything good to say about him?”

Ultimately, Oliver found the incident to be deeply upsetting. “The whole spectacle was awful,” he said. “The Ukrainian ambassador to the US had her head in her hands, Marco Rubio seemed to be actively trying to sink inside the couch, and for what it’s worth, Zelenskyy has thanked Americans and the US 33 times at the very least, which feels like enough.”