Back in 2004, Oprah set the record for the biggest giveaway on TV when she gave everyone in her audience a free car. Or at least a car that would only cost you about $7,000 after the taxes and fees were accounted for. There were 276 people in that audience, and the giveaway had a total value of just under $8 million.
Well, John Oliver trumped her on “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday. Not only did he nearly double Oprah’s giveaway, but his didn’t come with a tax hit.
He was doing a bit on the unregulated debt-buying business, and to prove a point about how easy it is to start a shady debt-buying company, he spent $50 to set up one for himself. He then bought nearly $15 million worth of medical debt from Texas for $60,000, which gave him access to 9,000 people’s personal information, including names, home addresses and social security numbers.
So what did he do with that debt? He just forgave it! He said, “On one hand, it’s obviously the right thing to do, but much more importantly we’d be staging the largest one-time giveaway in television show history.” Oliver concluded with, “F**k you, Oprah!” before hitting a big, novelty plunger, triggering the giveaway!
Check out the entire, 20-minute-long segment below. The giveaway starts around the 17 minute mark.
