WATCH: John Oliver hits Duterte, calls him ‘Trump of the East’
English comedian John Oliver on Sunday (Manila time) slammed Philippine presidential frontrunner Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in his “Last Week Tonight” show, comparing him to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Calling Duterte as “Trump of the East,” Oliver highlighted the trash-talking mayor’s crass sexism, homophobia, profanity-laced speeches, and alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings.
READ: Duterte man to beat
“Let me give you some perspective from the Philippines. Their presidential elections takes place tomorrow and their current frontrunner is Rodrigo Duterte and he’s a colorful character to say the least,” Oliver said.
The portion featured a clip from Aljazeera, where Duterte was heard offering himself as gift to the young brides in a mass wedding. “I don’t have money to give, but I can give your wives something else, and this is for the wives only. Man, I’m sorry, but you don’t get anything because I’m not a queer,” the mayor said.
“That kind of homophobia during a wedding usually only happens when the father of the bride has six whiskey sours and decides to tell everyone what he really thinks about Cameron and Mitchell in modern family. Not a fan, not a fan,” Oliver said of the remark.
Article continues after this advertisementOliver also touched on Duterte’s kissing spree toward her female supporters, and his cursing of the Pope.
Article continues after this advertisement“And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Duterte routinely kisses his female supporters, once called the pope a s** of a b****, all of which has earned him a reputation as ‘Trump of the East,’” he added.
READ: Duterte’s shocking, shrewd shot at the Philippine presidency
The comedian likewise hit Duterte’s alleged links to the so-called Davao Death Squad and his campaign promise of wiping out criminality by abandoning human rights and publicly killing criminals.
“Now, Duterte has also suggested if elected, he would kill five criminals every week, which may not be an idle promise since he has been mayor, extrajudicial death squads have reportedly killed over a thousand people. And while he denies any involvement in that, he does admit he’s got blood on his hands,” Oliver said.
“And then incredibly, none of this has hurt him. More than half of his city’s residents think the death squad is okay, which is a surprisingly measured response,” he added.
He also mentioned Duterte’s controversial joke in one of his campaign sorties, where he said he should have been the first to rape an Australian missionary, who was murdered during a Davao prison riot in 1989.
“At times though, Duterte has seemed like he is trying to test the limits of basic human decency. On the campaign trail recently, he delivered a speech that was truly nauseating. What a f****** a*****. And if any part of you was thinking, was that some kind of horrific joke, please know, he meant every word of it,” he said.
“Okay, let this be a lesson to all of us. When we say I just want a politician to tell me what he really thinks, we should specify that that politician should not be a total f****** monster. And yet incredibly, this man is leading in the polls by 11 points, so he’s probably getting elected president tomorrow, which isn’t just terrifying in the Philippines,” Oliver added.
Duterte, known for his iron-fist style of leadership and approach toward crime, vowed to dump criminals on Manila Bay, pardon himself for mass murder, and abolish Congress should there be attempts to impeach him if elected president. YG/RAM
