This past Sunday on “Last Week Tonight,” proud ignorant liberal John Oliver went off on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. According to the L.A. Times, it was a “blistering takedown.”
John Oliver condemns 'Meatball Ron' DeSantis as 'a petty autocrat and a bully' https://t.co/G5YczHNL3k
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 6, 2023
“When you take all of this together — the books being removed, the inane proclamations to shame trans athletes, the sloppy attempts to criminalize protests — and you combine it with everything else — from the support for restrictive abortion bans to the efforts to stop gender-affirming care — it really begins to feel like the freest state in America is only free to the extent that anyone wants to behave exactly the way that Ron DeSantis thinks they should,” Oliver said.
…
Throughout the scathing segment, Oliver repeatedly referred to DeSantis as “Meatball Ron” — a demeaning nickname given to the politician by his right-wing rival, former President Donald Trump.
“I hate to say it, but Trump’s still got it,” Oliver said. “It’s perfectly stupid, childish and hurtful in a way that’s genuinely difficult to articulate.”
Calling Ron DeSantis “Meatball Ron” is definitely stupid and childish, but hurtful? Maybe if someone called John Oliver “Meatball John,” he’d be hurt. But something tells us that Ron DeSantis couldn’t possibly care less about Trump’s lame nicknames for him.
Anyway, for some reason, the L.A. Times thought that Oliver’s rant merited a comment from DeSantis’ team. But when they reached out, “DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond” to the comment request at the Times was forced to push forward with the story. Uh-huh.
First of all, DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin has never been shy about offering comments in response to media inquiries:
- Ron DeSantis’ campaign responds to The View’s gracious invite with a gracious mic drop
- Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary gives Yahoo News a quote for their ‘Don’t Say Gay’ story
- Mic drop: DeSantis spox Bryan Griffin shares campaign’s reply to future NBC/MSNBC interview requests
Second of all, Griffin did respond to the L.A. Times’ request for comment:
"DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond Monday to the Los Angeles Times’ request for comment."
Yes, I did. Within an hour. Why wasn't my comment included in the article? @latimes @christicarras https://t.co/RO5b1ahgz3 pic.twitter.com/WI8bpCf3bu
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) March 7, 2023
Is “John Oliver is irrelevant” not a comment? Moreover, is it not an accurate comment? Sure we talk about John Oliver sometimes, but when it comes to what he actually brings to the public discourse table, he’s irrelevant.
And the L.A. Times is irrelevant as far as media are concerned if they can’t even bother to check their emails or voicemail messages.
We literally talked about it moments after you sent that email.
By talked, I mean we laughed, but that’s beside the point.
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) March 7, 2023
Hey, L.A. Times, what would you say you do here?
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 7, 2023
Heh.
Update: story updated. Thanks Twitter.
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) March 7, 2023
Lol. Updated. https://t.co/uGzcDD7sF9 pic.twitter.com/RVWKxx60fj
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) March 7, 2023
Glad they finally got around to it.
Step 5 “if” statement failed. pic.twitter.com/oHh0zx5vzB
— Amygator 🐊 *not an actual alligator (@AmyA1A) March 7, 2023
New favorite meme.
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) March 7, 2023
It’s perfect.
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Related:
Ron DeSantis’ press secretary shares insane email from CNN reporter soliciting comment for hit piece
Bryan Griffin & Christina Pushaw show lefty media the real ‘culture war’ (and it’s NOT DeSantis)
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