Last Week Tonight host John Oliver blasts Hotstar for not streaming episode on Narendra Modi

A new episode of the Emmy award winning show is streamed on Hotstar for Indian subscribers every week on Tuesday at 6 am. On February 25, “Modi: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” was expected to be available to Hotstar subscribers from 6 am but those who logged in only found the show of the week before.

John Oliver said he was alerted that the episode did not air in India by his viewers in the country.

“A couple of weeks ago, we did a story on India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which some diehard Modi supporters like Arnab Goswami, the Tucker Carlson of India, did not enjoy

“That episode actually did not air in India. A lot of our viewers alerted us of the fact that Hotstar, the streaming service that broadcast us in India, never uploaded that episode in India. There is no evidence that Indian government made them do that,” Oliver said.

At best, he said, he can tell that Hotstar just decided to self-censor, “which is still not good”.

“And what’s worse is, it’s apparently not even the first time that they have censored us. We’ve discovered that they’ve quietly been doing it for a while now, but not for the reason that you might expect,” the host said.

It has come to John Oliver’s notice that Hotstar is censoring his show in India. pic.twitter.com/HqwfjMfxzX

— Deepanjana (@dpanjana) March 9, 2020

Mentioning the anti-CAA and NRC protests, John Oliver, who was previously a Daily Show correspondent, had added, “The only glimmer of hope here is that for perhaps the first time in Modi’s whole career, his actions are creating a massive and sustained backlash.”

Oliver also segued in a clip of the criticism against him by the Indian channel.

“I’ll give you ignoramus. I’ll even give you a third-rate TV host. My researchers assure me that’s an actual compliment – but I embarrass myself? Who the f*** do you think you’re talking to?!”

He added that Hotstar had cut out a joke about Mickey Mouse in an earlier episode on US Census and another about Donald Duck.

“Why did they do that? It’s hard to say, but it might be because Hotstar is actually owned by Disney, and they seem extra-sensitive about Disney references.”

John Oliver, who has voiced hornbill Zazu in Disney’s live-action reimagining of The Lion King, said it was pointless for the streaming service to censor his words critical of the studio as he is “Zazu”.

“If you think you that you have to remove anything that reflects poorly on Disney from this show, I have some bad news for you my friends – I’m f***ing Zazu right here. Everything that comes out of this beak is a Disney fact.”