Less than 24 hours after HBO’s Last Week Tonight did a takedown of cop shows such as the Law & Order franchise, John Oliver had yet to run into any cast from such series at the Emmys.
In the Sept. 11 episode’s main, 27-minute segment (embedded above), Oliver took a deep dive into how cop shows “significantly distort the big picture of policing” and create a “false narrative of law enforcement” in which “exceptionally competent cops [are] working within a largely fair framework that mostly convicts white people.”
Law & Order franchise boss Dick Wolf, for one, he said “is selling a complete fantasy that many people in this country are only too happy to buy — which is fine, as long as we don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s an ad for a defective product.”
Appearing in the Emmys press room on Monday night after Last Week Tonight once again won for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, Oliver was asked if he had bumped into any Law & Order cast on the red carpet or at the ceremony.
“Not yet,” he said.
“It’s almost like I hadn’t considered the Emmys are on NBC this year,” he added with a laugh. “No I haven’t run into anyone yet, so I don’t know how that will go. I hope it’s OK.”
Speaking to Last Week Tonight‘s decision to go hard on cop shows this week, Oliver said, “I hope we made a pretty clear separation between not just what the cast and the writers are doing and what Dick Wolf wants, but also the problem clearly, obviously is policing in general. As we said, it’s an ad for a defective product…. It was just something that we thought was fascinating.” (With reporting by Vlada Gelman)