June 13, 2016

Watch John Oliver’s Emotional Response to the Orlando Shooting: “This Pain Is So Familiar”

He urged viewers to remember the hundreds of people who waited in line to donate blood in the wake of the attack.


John Oliver took a moment at the top of his show on Sunday to address the devastating mass shooting that took place inside a gay nightclub in Orlando just hours before.

“It’s still early and details are still emerging and right now this just hurts,” Oliver said. “And the worst thing is—this pain is so familiar. In Paris last November, terrorists seem to target places symbolizing everything that is wonderful about France: culture, music, restaurants. In Orlando early this morning, the gunman attacked a Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world.”

Instead of focusing on the “dipshit terrorist” behind Sunday’s tragedy, the Last Week Host Tonight urged viewers to watch a clip of the hundreds of people who lined up to donate blood in the wake of the attack to remember that the “terrorist dipshit is vastly outnumbered.”

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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