John Oliver walks behind LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and advertises his ‘Idiotic’ campaign

After a week of absence, John Oliver is back Last week Tonight on Sunday and dedicate a large portion of his latest episode to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who is currently running for re-election.

Although Villanueva ran for office as a Democratic reformer — the first Democrat to be elected LA County Sheriff in 138 years — his tenure saw him not only move right , but was also asked to resign by the Sheriff’s Civil Oversight Committee because of a perceived lack of accountability .

“His re-election bid this year has been overshadowed by statements in LA Times Oliver explained that he directed a cover-up of an incident where one of his deputies knelt on top of an arrestee for three minutes,” Oliver explained. “It’s a damning story of abuse of power and lack of transparency, and Villanueva was quick to act against those responsible… letting everyone know about it.”

One LA time The video that reveals the story shows that on March 10, 2021, after being punched by inmate Enzo Escalante, Deputy Douglas Johnson and other deputies “brought Escalante to the ground, positioning him on his stomach. After he was handcuffed, Johnson held his knee above Escalante’s head for three minutes. Allen Castellano, a commander of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, later filed a countersuit against LA County alleging Villanueva watched video of the incident five days after it happened and said, “We don’t need a means of transport. bad media at the moment,” while directing Assistant Sheriff Robin Limon to “handle the matter.” (Villanueva has denied any wrongdoing and claims to have not seen the video in question until eight months after it happened, at which point he “immediately” launched an investigation into Johnson.)

Villanueva proceeded to hold a completely absurd press conference where he pointed the finger at his political rival in the sheriff’s race, Max Huntsman, as well as LA time reporter Alene Tchekmedyian, who broke the cover story, said, “The matter is under investigation. This is stolen property that has been illegally removed from those with intent — criminal intent — and it will be investigated.”

“Okay, when you’re accused of being complicit in a terrible act, being more concerned with who said it than the accusation doesn’t accurately represent innocence,” Oliver said.

“Sweeping things under the carpet seems to be Villanueva’s style,” he continued, “because, despite campaigning four years ago as a reformer in a notoriously corrupt department, but his achievement since then has not been great. A 2019 report by IG found that in just a two-month period, officials working under him dropped 45 administrative investigations into his employees, some involving domestic violence, child abuse and sexual misconduct with a prisoner. ”

Plus, Villanueva’s reelection is filled with “culture war” nonsense, including speaking out against “awakeningism”. Oliver also targeted Villanueva’s thirty-second campaign ad, which he calls “probably one of the silliest things I’ve ever seen”.

The ad includes a beautiful woman rollerblading past homeless tents, a mother and child happily playing in a sandbox with homeless people in it, and a man giving a woman a foot massage — they seem to be having the time of their life — like people are stealing content from their homes, it’s all like the play “Ave Maria” and Villanueva dreamily says about “standing up against corruption” in the dub.

“Obviously now, it’s all bullshit — from the 1990s rollerblade to the song choice for your California dream ad, “Ave Maria” and no, I don’t know, “California Dreamin”, the fact that everyone there has an absolute ball, including those who are experiencing a break-in. Honestly, I have never seen anyone happy. like this being robbed, and I’ve seen Glenn Close at the Oscars eight times.”

He went on to call it “the hardest depiction of Southern California since La La Land. ”