John Oliver really is both principled and brilliant:
With the help of British actress Helen Mirren, Oliver compared the reality of torture to the version most American’s believe from television shows like “24.”
With Mirren reading from the report about “rectal rehydration” — in the case of one detainee who was force fed a meal of hummus, pasta, nuts, and raisins pureed and introduced rectally — an aghast Oliver challenged his viewers to “try not to think about that the next time you eat hummus.”
“I feel like I should preemptively apologize to the Sabra hummus brand, because your sales are about to drop quite noticeably,” he said.
Attempting to lighten the mood after reporting on one innocent detainee who died of hypothermia after being beaten and chained to a wall, Oliver had Mirren read from “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” … only for the story to take a horrible turn.
“But while Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail were on their way to pick blackberries, Peter was chained to a wall in Farmer McGregor’s basement. He’d been badly beaten, and a tray of carrots and raisins had been pureed and rectally infused,” she read to a horrified Oliver.
