John Oliver Tackles Rocks, Furries, And Kandiss Taylor
Last Week Tonight was off this week, so instead, online viewers got another web exclusive episode. This time, the episode did not discuss a movie franchise centered around a dog that is good at sports but rocks. Yes, rocks. The show’s topic selection should not be surprising at this point, taking into consideration that last weekend’s episode was about sandwiches. But, as fans already know, John Oliver can see in any mundane subject an opportunity for imparting wisdom.
Admittedly, the rocks in question are not just any run-of-the-mill rocks you can find anywhere. No, these are “specific rocks”. But to get to the specific rocks this episode focuses on, Oliver must first talk about Georgia’s gubernatorial Republican primaries. Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and Georgia all held primaries last Tuesday, May 24. In the Georgia elections, Brian Kemp won with 73.7% of the votes, with David Perdue coming in second with 21.8%. However, this episode does not focus on either of the two “old, white, Republican men.” Instead, Oliver takes aim at candidate Kandiss Taylor who, the host and his team accurately predicted, did not win the election.
Less than 3 minutes into the episode, Oliver also shows off his telepathic abilities and addresses the question that’s on everyone’s minds: Why on earth is he spending a web exclusive episode “yammering on” about Taylor when he promised us rocks? As fans certainly know by now, after 9 seasons, Oliver never breaks his promises, and this time was no different.
Before Oliver got to tell viewers about the rocks, however, the British-American comedian spent a few minutes taking humorous jabs at Taylor’s campaign and policies. Then, Oliver moved on to the subject of furries because Taylor was, it seems, passionately anti-furry, having proposed executive orders like: “no ‘furry’ related items will be worn in schools.”
However, this episode is concerned with one of Taylor’s executive orders in particular. Executive Order number 10 of Taylor’s campaign was purposefully only disclosed later in the campaign to create anticipation among the public. This order would see the demolition of Georgia’s Guidestones, which, in Taylor’s words, can be compared to “a war between good and evil.” Finally, over halfway through the episode, we finally get to the specific rocks the host mentioned.
This roadside attraction in Elbert County is at the center of multiple online conspiracy theories. Naturally, Oliver tries to offer a more rational counterargument to all these conspiracy theories. However, Oliver and the crew discovered that the stones may have been ordered by a man named Dr. Herbert Kirsten. If this is true, this is a concerning fact because Kirsten was an apparent supporter of eugenics and other similar neo-Nazi beliefs.
After this web exclusive episode, viewers are led to understand that Taylor may have been wrong in everything else but at least she was partly right in wanting to get rid of the Guidestones.
Watch the web exclusive episode below:
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