John Oliver may have just out-Oprahed Oprah.
The Last Week Tonight host announced in Sunday's episode that he legally purchased $14,922,261.76 in outstanding and overdue medical debt, and forgave it all.
Just like when he started his very own church (RIP Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption), Oliver took his segment on the shady practices in the debt-collecting industry one step further than just educating his audience. He joined the industry.
"It is pretty clear by now (that) debt buying is a grimy business, and badly needs more oversight, because as it stands any idiot can get into it," Oliver said. "And I can prove that to you, because I'm an idiot, and we started a debt-buying company. And it was disturbingly easy."
How easy? Well back in April they spent just $50 to start the company. "We called it Central Asset Recovery Professionals, or CARP, after the bottom-feeding fish."
With an official company and a website at his disposal, Oliver was offered nearly $15 million of medical debt from Texas for less than half a cent on the dollar, or less than $60,000.
And with a wave of his magic wand, all that debt was forgiven.
"Why not forgive it?" he asked. "Because on one hand, it's obviously the right thing to do. But much more importantly, we'd be staging the largest one-time giveaway in television show history."
Yup, he just bested that time Oprah gave away $8 million in cars. You can watch the full video below (WARNING: CONTAINS SOME STRONG LANGUAGE).
