John Oliver slams Law & Order for selling 'complete fantasy' of law enforcement
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"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories..."
...and John Oliver is calling bulls*** on all of them.
During a segment on Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight, the host of the comic news show fiercely criticized the Law & Order franchise for what he deems an unrealistic portrait of U.S. law enforcement. According to Oliver, the series sells "a complete fantasy that too many people in this country are only too willing to buy." He goes on to call it a "commercial" for a "defective product."
"If a medical show was giving us inaccurate information, we would say it's dangerous," Oliver said. If Grey's Anatomy put forth inaccurate details about vaccines, he argued, "we'd probably be having a conversation about it, [and] that's essentially what Law & Order is doing."
LastWeekTonight/Youtube
Using clips from the show to illustrate his points, Oliver maintained that the show not only glorifies police and investigators, it also justifies brutality as being a necessary function of the criminal justice system. He then singled out Law & Order: SVU for putting forth the narrative that sexual assault cases are often solved, when reality reflects a much darker truth. According to RAINN, in cases of sexual assault, 975 out of 1,000 perpetrators will walk free.
Oliver pointed out that rather than "depicting a flawed system riddled with structural racism," the show portrays "exceptionally competent cops working within a largely fair framework that mostly convicts white people."
Reps for NBC did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
A dialogue emerged around the impact of police procedurals following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and its subsequent protests. Cops, the long-running reality series, was pulled from the air, while shows like the now-canceled L.A.'s Finest and Live PD delayed episode premieres.
But as EW's Darren Franich pointed out in his review of We Own This City, the cop show is alive and well, with hits like The Rookie continuing to attract viewers.
The Law & Order universe also remains in its prime with a crossover special incorporating all three of the franchise's current shows (Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Organized Crime, and the Law & Order mothership) slated to run in late September.
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