John Oliver Hilariously Takes Down FIFA

Oh, FIFA, not you too. September hasn't been a particularly pleasant month for professional sports leagues — and their PR teams — and FIFA might have just made it worse by trying really hard to take the moral high ground. On Friday, FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter claimed that the international soccer organization is a shining example of how to uphold sports ethics, leading to a hilarious Twitter take down of FIFA from John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight and arguably TV's best Brit (sorry, Cumberbatch).

On Friday, Blatter sent out two tweets parading FIFA's supposedly moral stance, proclaiming "FIFA has taken the lead" in the global soccer community. Blatter's tweets weren't without context, of course: FIFA held a conference on sports ethics on Friday at the organization's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

According to The Associated Press, Blatter opened the conference with a speech on how the soccer organization was investigating corruption among its own ranks. But many FIFA critics, including Oliver, weren't impressed, considering the organization's long history of corrupt activities. Said activities include the successful bids of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup events, which are currently under investigation for potential bribery during the bidding process.

Although FIFA promised to discuss the corruption at Friday's ethics conference, Blatter and the organization refused to release any details about the on-going World Cup investigation. This coupled with FIFA's overall track record of sweeping things under the carpet seemed to tick off Oliver.

Here's how Oliver's FIFA tweet take down played out:

This is hardly the first time Oliver has publicly criticized FIFA for its lack of ethics. In June, the comedian launched a brutal segment on the soccer organization, outlining all of FIFA's moral failings. These ranged from the accusations that Qatar — a country with a ton of human rights violations — bribed FIFA with millions of dollars to host the 2022 World Cup to leaving 2014 host country Brazil economically crippled after building billion-dollar stadiums in remote areas.

Oliver said at the time:

For American viewers who may never have encountered them, FIFA is a comically grotesque organization. ... Brazil, let me put this in terms you might understand: Think of money as pubic hair, and FIFA as wax. Oh, they're going to be all over you during the World Cup, but when they go they're taking all the money with them, including some from places where you didn't even know you had any money.

God bless you and your truth-telling ways, John Oliver.

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