Comedian John Oliver made it very clear that he is not a fan of the Miss America pageant on Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight.”
Oliver called the pageant “one of the weirdest annual events on television” and wondered at Miss America’s existence in disbelief, “How the f–k is this still happening?”
Instead of taking the predictable route and making fun of the contestants, Oliver went for the heart of the Miss America pageant itself, slamming it for giving potential winners impossible questions and awarding scholarships to women only when they parade around in bathing suits.
“You need to see them in bathing suits, because as we all know, the intelligence portion of the brain is located somewhere on the upper thigh,” joked Oliver.
The comedian also debunked Miss America’s suggestive claim that it provides $45 million in scholarships to women annually. In fact, Oliver found through public tax forms that the organization spent less than $500,000 in cash scholarships at a national level in 2012.
According to Oliver, the organization’s choice of the word “provider” means that they can add up all the scholarship dollars they provide, even if when they (often) go unused for scholarships.
Oliver exposed Miss America’s superficiality by pointing out the fact that the pageant requires its contestants to certify that they have never been married or pregnant.
“Miss America is supposed to be a role model for children,” he said sarcastically. “How can she be that if she’s got a child in tow who’s constantly looking up to her?”
At the end of the segment, Oliver hosted his own Miss “Last Week Tonight” Pageant during which a special comedic guest made a final point about the unfair nature of the beauty pageant-disguised-as-scholarship-provider.
Watch the full segment below.
