John Oliver Tears Into New Warner Bros. Discovery Bosses for ‘Burning Down Network’
The “Last Week Tonight” host, whose show airs on HBO, poked fun at the Warner Bros. Discovery merger—including its recent string of high-profile cost-cutting measures.
HBO
Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced on its Q2 earnings call that it was not only planning to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming platform but that it would also be killing a number of projects for tax write-offs, presumably to compensate for its low earnings-per-share. A regulatory filing clarified the sum: an $825 million write-down.
Among the projects receiving the chop were a $90 million Batgirl film that was well into production and the animated feature Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, both of which were set to premiere on HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery also shut down a Wonder Twins film, a number of shows at TBS and TNT (e.g. Chad, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The Last O.G., and Snowpiercer), and, of course, CNN+.
While discussing the United States’ embarrassing monkeypox vaccine rollout and how the country let 20 million doses of the monkeypox vaccine expire, John Oliver took a few shots at the much-discussed merger on Sunday’s edition of Last Week Tonight—airing on the Warner Bros. Discovery-run HBO.
“We let the vaccine sit unused on a shelf in our reserves like an expired Chobani or a $90 million movie on HBO Max,” said Oliver. “By the way, hi there, new business daddy! Seems like you’re doing a really great job. I do get the vague sense that you’re burning down my network for the insurance money, but I’m sure that will all pass.”
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