John Oliver on Sunday made a heartfelt plea for people to support newspapers even while mocking their corporate parents. He said tronc — the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Times — sounds like “the noise an ejaculating elephant makes.”
Making fun of a tronc employee video — 10 minutes into 19 1/2-minute clip — Oliver ripped “the most meaningless graphic ever created,” which showed “digital sperm impregnating a tronc egg.”
In the video, tronc Chief Technology Officer Malcolm CasSelle and Chief Digital Officer Anne Vasquez are shown describing the company’s journalism in ways Oliver finds ridiculous.
On HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver’s take on the state of journalism included a parody trailer for a movie called “Stoplight,” which told of how investigative reporter from a rebranded Chronicle company called Chorp was reduced to covering a “cat raccoon.”
From the Los Angeles Press Club to outlets across the country, journalists and their fans hailed Oliver.
HBO’s John Oliver mocks tronc, says “the newspaper industry today is in big trouble.” https://t.co/BmK8xgDqFC via @FortuneMagazine @tjhuddle
— Nikki Reyes (@nrossreyes) August 8, 2016
John Oliver absolutely EVISCERATES tronc
— ishmael (@iD4RO) August 8, 2016
.@iamjohnoliver nails the problems with journalism today. So #funny. Incredibly #sad. #tronc #samzell https://t.co/9lRuTBGSod
— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein) August 8, 2016
tronc and Chorp – the future of# journalism? @iamjohnoliver about the suffering newspaper industry https://t.co/Il4DxAsHtS #LastWeekTonight
— Klaus Weinmaier (@weinmaier) August 8, 2016
@tronc Oh man, I bet that monday morning meeting about John Oliver will be fun! @LastWeekTonight
— Quinn Van Order (@Flutt3r5) August 8, 2016
Oh my god John Oliver did a tronc episode, oh my god oh my god oh my god.
— Lauren Chval (@lchval) August 8, 2016