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This page is about the Last Week Tonight segment. For the type of lawsuit, see Strategic lawsuit against public participation.
"SLAPP Suits"
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode
File:John Oliver SLAPP Suits Number.jpg
John Oliver performs his musical number "Eat Shit, Bob!" on Last Week Tonight
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 29 (segment)
Presented byJohn Oliver
Original air dateNovember 10, 2019
Running time26 minutes
List of episodes

"SLAPP Suits" is a part of the humorous HBO news series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, on strategic lawsuits against public participation. It was first played on November 10, 2019, as part of the twenty-ninth episode of the series's sixth season. During the twenty-six-minute clip, comedian John Oliver talked about the result of a lawsuit against him from mining businessman Robert E. "Bob" Murray, as well as the harmful effects of lawsuits like that. Oliver then ended the clip with a song entitled "Eat Shit, Bob!" in honor of winning his lawsuit, which was generally well-liked.

Background

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Coal

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This segment about Robert E. Murray (pictured) was part of the penultimate episode of Last Week Tonight's sixth season.

On June 18, 2017, John Oliver aired a segment on his show, entitled "Coal". The segment focused on practices in the coal mining industry. Oliver began the piece by showing Donald Trump's fondness for the coal industry. He played clips of him when he was running for president in 2016 in a coal miner's hat and talking to a crowd that had miners in it. In the speech, he told the miners to prepare to work their "asses off" when he became President.[1] Oliver then introduced Bob Murray, the head of Murray Energy, in clips from Fox News and Fox Business. In those clips, Murray criticizes President Barack Obama multiple times, because of what Murray saw as dislike towards those in the coal industry.[1]

Oliver explained that when he and his team talked to Murray Energy about his show about them, he received a letter informing them that he should cease and desist from "any efforts to [...] injure Mr. Murray," and that Murray has sued people before.[2][3] Oliver ignored this letter and proceeded to call Murray a "geriatric Dr. Evil" who was "on the same side as black lung".[4] Oliver talked about other errors in the way Murray's miners were told to do their jobs, spending a lot of time talking about the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse that killed 9 people. While Murray argued that it was the fault of an earthquake,[4][5] the federal government concluded that it was the fault of the unsafe way miners were told to do their jobs, and told Murray Energy that they had to pay US$1,850,000. This is the highest amount possible for a safety violation.[6][7] When Murray introduced a program for coal miners to earn more money, the workers did not like that it might encourage them to do risky or dangerous things for more money. The company told the workers that they could return their money if they felt they were being encouraged to do risky things. Two miners gave back the money, writing the words "KISS MY ASS BOB" and "Eat Shit Bob" on their checks.[2] Oliver also talked about Murray also sharing a story that he received the idea to start a coal mining business from a talking squirrel.[2] Drawing on the two stories from before, Oliver ended the episode by introducing a squirrel mascot known as "Mr. Nutterbutter" (played by Noel MacNeal) who taunted Bob Murray by holding up an oversized check for "three acorns and eighteen cents" made out to "Eat Shit, Bob!"[1][2][3][8]

Lawsuit

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On June 22, 2017, some companies owned by Bob Murray announced that they had filed a lawsuit against John Oliver, HBO, and others close to Oliver in a West Virginia Circuit Court, claiming that Oliver had defamed them, or said untrue and bad things about them. The plaintiffs said that they didn't like the way Oliver talked about the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse, repeating what they had said before that the primary collapse was caused by an earthquake and that Oliver was lying. They also said that because so many people watch Oliver's show, that he was unfairly harming Murray.[9] Murray wanted money from Oliver, as well as a gag order on letting people see the segment again.[4]

An HBO spokesperson said they were confident in Last Week Tonight, and said that they did not believe that "anything in the show this week violated Mr. Murray’s or Murray Energy’s rights."[4][10]

On February 24, 2018, the case was thrown away, with the judge agreeing with HBO's argument that Murray had failed to state a valid claim.[11] Murray appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, but all five justices on that court were impeached for charges relating to corruption, overspending, and lack of oversight. The case was dropped a short while later.[12] Oliver later said that this was a relief, because he had made a joke on his show a few years prior that the head Justice on the court, Allen Loughry, referred to his penis as "The Gavel."[12][13]

Amicus curiae

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The ACLU chapter in West Virginia put in a friendly legal document on behalf of HBO, which was noted for its snarky, humorous tone, unusual in these kinds of papers.[14] The paper featured titles like "You Can’t Sue People for Being Mean to You, Bob" and "A Brief History of Plaintiffs’ Attempts to Chill Speech by Abusing the Legal System."[15] The paper argued that Oliver's segment did not say anything that violated Murray's rights, as Oliver's statements were legally protected because some were jokes, and the rest were true.[14] The paper said that Murray was using the court as a way to suppress free speech, arguing that this lawsuit "threaten[s] the fundamental right of the media to criticize public figures and speak candidly on matters of public concern."[14] The argument was helped by a list of Murray's other lawsuits, with the ACLU listing lawsuits thrown out by the courts against HuffPost, a newspaper in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, as well as Bloomberg News and individual activists, commenting that "It appears that Bob Murray’s favorite hobby is suing and/or threatening to sue people for making political statements he disagrees with."[15]

Because of the way the media talked about the paper, Murray Energy filed a response, asking the court to ignore it because the ACLU didn't make it clear that they had a tie to Oliver's show.[16] The response criticized the the way the ACLU worded the paper, saying that the biased tone by itself should make the court throw it away. The response also claimed that Oliver a financial tie to the ACLU, in that on a segment of Last Week Tonight entitled "President-Elect Trump", which came out 5 days after the 2016 United States presidential election, Oliver encouraged viewers to donate to causes perceived as left-leaning such as Planned Parenthood, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Trevor Project, the Center for Reproductive Rights, or the International Refugee Assistance Project. Murray Energy said that this encouragement caused an "immediate surge of millions of dollars in donations to the ACLU". Reuters argued that Murray Energy did not prove this claim, because they only provided hyperlinks to three articles that did not explicitly support this argument. The articles said that the organization got more money because of the result of the Presidential election, and not because of Oliver's show.[16]

Episode

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John Oliver staged a musical number entitled "Eat Shit, Bob!" to end the twenty-ninth episode of Last Week Tonight.
External video
  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Coal (HBO) on YouTube
  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: SLAPP Suits (HBO) on YouTube

On November 10, 2019, John Oliver released a segment on his show, entitled "SLAPP Suits". Oliver began by recapping the legal fight so far, including a clip in which Bob Murray promoted his lawsuit on Fox Business. He also noted that despite winning the case, his insurance fees tripled and that his show paid US$200,000 in to the show's lawyers.[12][13] Oliver then argued that Bob Murray never intended to win the case, and instead wanted to scare HBO and him into silence, leading into the main point of the segment—SLAPP Suits.[17] SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation, which are lawsuits designed to scare targets into not criticizing someone. Someone can threaten high lawyers' costs and other payments from lawsuits to make people not say anything bad about them. Oliver pointed out that Murray has filed at least nine lawsuits against news outlets and journalists who have said bad things about him including the Huffington Post, who called him an "extremist coal baron"[4] and The New York Times.[18] Oliver argued that Murray has also sued those who might not be lucky enough to have the support of a large company like HBO and have insurance. He then suggested that because those people might be scared of a lawsuit, that Murray might have succeeded in trying to stop people from saying bad things about him. For example, Oliver argued that Murray's habits led to the relative silence in the press on two sexual harassment cases against Murray. One of these cases involved Murray asking a woman employee to get on her hands and knees and find a kidney stone that Murray had passed and lost.[19][20]

To end the section discussing Murray's lawsuits, Oliver said he knew that despite the segment being checked over by HBO's lawyers (who he joked were "getting very tired of this"), the episode would likely lead to another lawsuit from Murray. Oliver said that he would stand behind his works if it were to happen.[21] When Judge Jeffery D. Cramer threw out Oliver's case, he noted that "loose, figurative language" has long been speech that's fair to use under the First Amendment. Oliver brought this up as his reason to create a musical number to end the episode.[22]

Musical number

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Taking the name of "Eat Shit, Bob" from the money the miner returned, Oliver put on a five-minute musical number, initially set in his studio. There, he began singing slowly that "even though he'll threaten legal Armageddon, we have just one tiny thing to say..." and then put up his middle finger and exclaimed "Bob Murray can go fuck himself today!"[23] He then introduced the "Suck My Balls, Bob" dancers, who moved to Times Square as they recounted fake stories of Murray doing crazy and terrible things, joking that he caused the 1994 Cobo Arena attack on Nancy Kerrigan, shot puppies into outer space, supplied drugs to Bill Cosby, murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and started World War I, and was the unidentified Zodiac Killer.[19][20] Oliver based parts of the song on his legal defense, saying that "we made up these anecdotes, they're silly and insane" and "If we discuss Bob Murray in a way no reasonable person could construe as factual, we can say whatever the fuck we like!"[13] Mr. Nutterbutter came back with a barbershop quartet in squirrel costumes, who alleged that Bob Murray practiced bestiality with squirrels.[24] Brian d'Arcy James also made an appearance as HBO's legal counsel, initially telling everyone to stop singing and dancing. James then went into his own segment, where he recounted Bob Murray forcing tourists at the New York City M&M's Store to watch as he "crammed them (M&M's) up his anal hole."[20] The number was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.[23][25]

Reaction

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An editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail said that there was "a lesson in John Oliver roasting Bob Murray" in that it leads to the question of why states like West Virginia have relaxed anti-SLAPP laws.[26]

The musical number was well-liked. The A.V. Club said that the episode was a demonstration in "why rich assholes really shouldn’t sue John Oliver," and said that the musical number was "glorious" and "over-the-top".[20] Slate said that just because Oliver gave an "impassioned speech standing up for all the small outlets and independent activists bullied into silence by SLAPP lawsuits," that does not mean John Oliver "has matured even a little bit".[27]

The Mary Sue commented that Bob Murray's SLAPP suits create a "culture of fear in which Murray ends up able to succeed in his goal of stifling any criticism of him and his industrial operations," but points out that Murray "may have picked too big a fish" in John Oliver, adding that "Of course, this is John Oliver we’re talking about and 'culture of fear' is basically his Bat-Signal."[28]

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Oliver, John (June 18, 2017). "Coal: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Perkins, Dennis (June 19, 2017). "John Oliver sees a coal company's cease-and-desist letter and raises them these nuts". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Locker, Melissa (June 19, 2017). "John Oliver Picked a Fight With The Coal Industry". Time. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Hawkins, Derek (June 17, 2016). "John Oliver, a giant squirrel and a defamation lawsuit by a coal industry titan". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021.
  5. ↑ Urbina, Ian (May 9, 2008). "Utah Mine Disaster Was Preventable, Report Says (Published 2008)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Feds blame mine operator for fatal collapse". CNN. July 24, 2008. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Failures clear year after mine collapse - US news - Life | NBC News". April 13, 2018. Archived from the original on April 13, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  8. ↑ Adams, Sam (June 19, 2017). "John Oliver and a Talking Squirrel Want Donald Trump to Stop Lying About Coal Jobs". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Initial complaint of Murray Energy and others". February 4, 2021. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  10. ↑ Maddaus, Gene (June 22, 2017). "John Oliver Sued for 'Ruthless Character Assassination' by Coal CEO". Variety. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  11. ↑ Nyren, Erin (February 24, 2018). "John Oliver Victorious: Coal CEO's Defamation Suit Dismissed". Variety. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "John Oliver Picks a New Fight With Coal Boss He Called 'a Geriatric Dr. Evil' on 'Last Week Tonight'". Time. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Oliver, John (November 10, 2019). "SLAPP Suits: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)". YouTube. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Bradley, Laura. "A.C.L.U. Defends John Oliver from Stupid Lawsuit in Hilarious Amicus Brief". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Crofts, Jamie Lynn (August 1, 2017). "Brief Amicus Curiae of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia Foundation in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and in Support of Dismissal and Rule 11 Sanctions". Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Frankel, Alison (August 9, 2017). "Murray Energy's tricky attack on ACLU in John Oliver libel case". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  17. ↑ Saad, Nardine (November 11, 2019). "John Oliver roasts litigious coal titan in epic, squirrel-filled musical number". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  18. ↑ Schwartz, John (October 27, 2020). "Robert Murray, Coal Baron With Clout, Dies at 80". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Klein, Kathryn B. (December 8, 2019). "What the Hell Happened: John Oliver's Secret Lawsuit". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Perkins, Dennis. "John Oliver gloriously demonstrates why rich assholes really shouldn't sue John Oliver". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  21. ↑ Horton, Adrian (November 11, 2019). "John Oliver takes on muzzling lawsuits – and the man who sued his show". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on January 6, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  22. ↑ "John Oliver takes on muzzling lawsuits – and the man who sued his show". The Guardian. November 11, 2019. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Emmys: A Guide to This Year's Music and Lyrics Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. September 17, 2020. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  24. ↑ Ivie, Devon (February 4, 2021). "John Oliver Is Taking Last Week Tonight's Mascot Budget 'to My Grave'". Vulture. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  25. ↑ Lambe, Stacy (July 28, 2020). "Emmy Nominations 2020: The Complete List". Entertainment Tonight (ET). CBS Studios Inc. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  26. ↑ "Gazette-Mail editorial: There's a lesson in John Oliver roasting Bob Murray". Charleston Gazette-Mail. November 11, 2019. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  27. ↑ Martinelli, Marissa (November 11, 2019). "John Oliver Taunts Coal Baron Enraged by Giant Talking Squirrel With Giant Singing Squirrels". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  28. ↑ "Here's Why It's a Bad Idea to Sue John Oliver". The Mary Sue. November 11, 2019. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
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