John Oliver Torches Elon Musk: Twitter Is “Functioning Worse Than Ever Before”

John Oliver delivered some major blows toward Elon Musk for his controversial acquisition of Twitter on last night’s (Nov. 20) episode of Last Week Tonight. The host began his segment with a brutal takedown of the Tesla CEO, who he compared to an apartheid Willy Wonka.

“It has now been three weeks since it [Twitter] was taken over by Elon Musk, a man who answers the question ‘What if Willy Wonka benefited from apartheid?'” Oliver quipped, per The Hollywood Reporter.

He went on to criticize the changes that the social media platform has undergone since Musk came into leadership, including its spike in racial slurs and the new ability for users to purchase verification, which was previously given to valid accounts free of charge.

“One analysis [found] the use of a racial slur spiking nearly 500 percent in the 12 hours after his deal was finalized, which is pretty shocking, even for a website where a regular trending topic is sometimes just ‘The Jews,'” Oliver said.

The late night host also noted that allowing users to buy verified checkmarks yielded “predictable results,” citing the rise in impersonation accounts, which has driven theatre outlet Playbill to leave the platform and CBS News to take a temporary absence.

In another turn of events, the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly came under fire after a parody account tweeted that “insulin is free now.” The brand responded with an apology to those who were misled, and has since halted activity and advertising on the platform, which could cost Twitter “millions of dollars,” per The Washington Post.

Oliver concluded his segment by criticizing Musk for his company-wide layoffs and inconsistent messaging, saying that the platform is “functioning worse than ever before” and blasting the site as a “clown town.”

“And while the potential collapse of this site has been sad for the workers and for those who have relied on it, there is undeniably something a little satisfying about a guy who was so desperate to be perceived as cool and funny on the internet that he paid $44 billion to make it happen, only to discover that he still somehow couldn’t afford it,” Oliver said of Musk.

The full episode, which was Last Week Tonight‘s season finale, also focused on the 2022 World Cup and FIFA’s decision to tap Qatar to host, given their ongoing (and worsening) human rights violations.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs Sundays at 11/10c on HBO and HBO Max. Watch last night’s episode in the video above.