On Friday, Paris suffered the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II. On Saturday, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by three teams and claimed at least 129 lives. Like SNL, Last Week Tonight opened with a hastily written acknowledgment of the attacks—one that many viewers will find cathartic. John Oliver took advantage of HBO’s liberal profanity policy and delivered the colorful rant we all needed:
First, as of now, we know this attack was carried out by gigantic fucking assholes. Unconscionable flaming assholes, possibly working with other fucking assholes, definitely working in service of an ideology of pure assholery. Second, and this goes almost without saying, fuck these assholes. Fuck them, if I may say, sideways. And third, it is important to remember, nothing about what these assholes are trying to do is going to work. France is going to endure.
Oliver goes on to explain why challenging France to a culture war is a losing proposition.
