John Oliver Calls Out ‘Soon-to-Be Business Daddy’ David Ellison for Having a ‘Literal Business Daddy’

If and when the merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance goes through, John Oliver will once again have a new “business daddy.” But, on Sunday night, the HBO host called out said “business daddy” for having “a literal business daddy.” The punchline came during Oliver’s main story of the night, centered on United Healthcare. Throughout the show, the late night host highlighted stories of healthcare struggles that infuriated him, including one where a little girl’s parents had to pay $95,000 out of pocket to cover the treatment their child needed (which, happily worked). “But having access to wealthy parents just cannot be the system to get badly needed healthcare, even if it is apparently the system that lets you be in charge of HBO,” Oliver joked. At that, an image of David Ellison appeared on-screen. Ellison is currently the CEO of Paramount Skydance, and is the son of billionaire businessman Larry Ellison. “Yeah, my soon-to-be business daddy as a literal business daddy!” Oliver said, stifling a laugh and pretending to get serious. “And to be very clear, I deeply respect that, and I would never make fun of you for it. Unlike that pesky Stephen Colbert.” Indeed, prior to his firing at CBS, Stephen Colbert was openly critical of his parent company Paramount. Just days before his dismissal, Colbert called out the company for the $16 million settlement it reached with President Donald Trump. “Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: It’s ‘big fat bribe,’” he said, “because this all comes as Paramount owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance.” You can watch John Oliver’s full segment in the video above.