John Oliver's Somber Response To Orlando Shooting

In the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, people everywhere showed their support for the victims and their families. John Oliver responded to the Orlando shooting before his June 12 episode of Last Week Tonight and his somber message proved that he's hurting like the rest of us.

Oliver and his hit HBO show are known for providing a humorous weekly reprieve from all of the stressful things going on in your life. However, this week's episode was decidedly different, as Oliver paid tribute to the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history. “It’s still early and details are still emerging and right now this just hurts,” Oliver said at the onset of Last Week Tonight. His somber tone and serious demeanor were unusual for the late-night comedy show host, but his message showed just how stunned the entire nation is after this tragedy struck Orlando.

Not only did Oliver recognize the gravity of this situation, but he put it in a sobering context: “And the worst thing is, this pain is so familiar. In Paris last November, terrorists seemed to target places that symbolize everything that is wonderful about France — culture, music, restaurants."

And Oliver was right: the domestic terrorism that transpired in Orlando happened just months after Paris, and even more recently were the Brussels attacks in March. Whenever these mass shootings happen, they seem to instill fear in the world and remove a bit of our nation's happiness — especially, as Oliver pointed out, when they happen in particularly happy places:

And in Orlando early this morning a gunman attacked a Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world. And for the record, I will happily embrace a Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world as the ultimate symbol of what is truly wonderful about America.

Before he got to his regularly-scheduled segments, (you know, the more comedic bits), Oliver nearly apologized for presenting something so trivial and lighthearted in the wake of such a heartbreaking tragedy. At the end of his message about the Orlando shooting, Oliver showed a video of the hundreds of people lined up outside OneBlood donation center in Orlando Sunday, proving that, in the end, love trumps hate. “It kind of reminds you that that dips**t terrorists are vastly outnumbered,” Oliver said.

This post will be updated with the official video from Last Week Tonight once it is available online.

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