NEWSJohn Oliver Mocks Paramount Boss David Ellison and His 'Business Daddy' Larry
John Oliver joked about David Ellison’s potential control of HBO.
Sept. 27 2026, Published 4:06 p.m. ET
John Oliver is already testing the limits of his relationship with the man who could soon control HBO.
During the September 20 episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver interrupted a segment about UnitedHealthcare to target Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, whose company has reached a $110 billion agreement to acquire HBO parent Warner Bros.
A Healthcare Story Creates an Opening
The host connected a healthcare discussion to David Ellison’s family wealth.
Oliver was discussing UnitedHealthcare’s history of denying insurance claims ahead of Luigi Mangione’s December sentencing. Mangione pleaded guilty last month to federal stalking charges in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He still faces related state charges.
The host cited a patient whose parents paid $95,000 for cancer treatment after her insurer denied coverage. The treatment worked, but Oliver used the family’s financial resources to make a sharp pivot toward his own corporate future.
“Having access to wealthy parents just cannot be the system to get badly needed healthcare — even if it is apparently the system that lets you be in charge of HBO,” Oliver said as a photograph of Ellison appeared onscreen.
A ‘Business Daddy’ With a Business Daddy
He referenced David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, during the satirical segment.
Ellison, 43, is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a tech billionaire and Republican megadonor. The elder Ellison is providing a $40.4 billion financial backstop for Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition.
John has frequently described executives overseeing HBO as his “business daddies.” This time, the family connection allowed him to extend the bit.
“Yeah, my soon-to-be business daddy has a literal business daddy,” the host said.
The deal would place Last Week Tonight under the control of an executive whose previous Paramount acquisition became entangled with another prominent late-night show.
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Stephen Colbert Becomes the Warning
The host brought up Stephen Colbert’s departure from ‘The Late Show.’
Before Skydance completed its Paramount merger, Paramount paid $16 million to settle President Donald Trump’s lawsuit alleging CBS deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
Stephen, then host of CBS’ The Late Show, called the settlement a “big fat bribe” while the merger awaited approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
CBS subsequently announced that The Late Show would end in May, describing the cancelation as a “purely financial decision” unrelated to the show’s performance, content or other matters involving Paramount. The merger closed the following month.
John Oliver used Paramount’s corporate history to deliver a warning about HBO’s future leadership.
John invoked that history while pretending to assure David that he would not cause similar trouble.
“And to be very clear: I deeply respect that,” John said of David's financial support from his father, “and I would never make fun of you for it, unlike that pesky Stephen Colbert.”
