A week ago, John Oliver's main story was about New Zealand and its "Bird of the Century" contest.
"Every year, New Zealanders vote for their favorite bird and ultimately elect a new bird king," he explained.
The late-night host has an affinity for poking at the small islands that make up one of the safest countries in the world. While there are many birds that have campaigns for "Bird of the Century," it appears the pūteketeke did not. Thus, Oliver named himself the head of the movement, placed posters and ads all over the world, and was joined on stage by a massive mechanical pūteketeke.
John Oliver photographed with giant mechanical pūteketeke (Photo: Screen capture)John Oliver photographed with giant mechanical pūteketeke (Photo: Screen capture)
"And look at the plumage! It has the grace of a swan and the hair of an emo Guy Fieri!" the host exclaimed.
As it turned out, the huge influx of votes temporarily crashed the voting verification system. They're now having to delay the announcement of the campaign.
It prompted some New Zealanders, known as Kiwis, to strike back at the host, saying that he's mocking their country, doesn't care about birds, and probably doesn't even like them. There were also a lot of comments about Oliver playing the role of Zazu, the "Lion King" bird in the live-action film, not the animated Zazu voiced by legendary British actor Rowan Atkinson.
Erin Reilly attacked the idea of a big-name celebrity coming out and trying to "hijack Bird of the Century. I don't even think he likes birds."
Oliver took offense to all of the accusations.
"Hey, hey hey!" Oliver responded. "Ok, now I'm insulted. Not because of the B-grade American celebrity. That's honestly generous. But how dare you say I don't like birds. I love them! I just don't like your bird. Because it looks like Donkey Kong's hairy testicle. It looks like a rat carrying a toothpick."
Another influencer from New Zealand on TikTok called Oliver to fly to New Zealand and explain himself. Her vote was for the kererū, which she called "the best bird."
"OK, OK, OK, let me address that," Oliver began. "Of course, I said no to that debate. I don't even know how to argue with someone who is that wrong. This is the best bird? Please, it's a f--king pigeon in a tank top. Debate over! I'm not getting on a plane to destroy you like that."
Others had a good sense of humor about the bird, but not the campaigners for the kākāriki karaka, who put up posters all over the north and south islands saying, "Dear John, Don't disrupt the pecking order."
"I really respect that kind of aggression, but the Kākāriki karaka has no business being in the competition. Bird of the Century is a contest for real birds, not bright green cat toys," he said of the small parrot.
The kea bird is also a mascot of a professional sports team, so when they saw the Oliver campaign, they posted their own ad saying, "The only bird that is worse than the pūteketeke is Zazu." Their problem, however, is they used the animated Zazu not the live-action Zazu, drawing more ridicule.
"We're the butt of his jokes, and he's doing it again," Reilly said of Oliver in the interview.
"Yeah, I am doing it again," Oliver admitted. "Yeah. I am. But it is not because I don't like New Zealand. It's because I f--king love you! New Zealand, you are so good at not just talking s--t, but taking it with remarkably good humor. I talk about you so much because you are the most fascinating country on Earth! You hold bird contests! You sometimes throw dild-s at your politicians. You let your people submit images like this for your national flag. You're an endless well of joy. Honestly, I'd talk about you every week if it weren't for all the other crazy s--t going on in the world."
He closed by saying that all of the birds are great and he would consider it an honor to lose to any of them. "The reason it is so easy for me to say that is we're not gonna lose are we? We're gonna win and we're gonna win by a lot."
The winners will be announced on Wednesday.
See the video below for a good laugh or at the link here.
