13x26 - Generic Drugs

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to "Last Week Tonight".

I'm John Oliver, thank you so much
for joining us. It has been a busy week.

Protests continued in France
and India,

the USS Abraham Lincoln
finally returned home,

and a new scandal
hit the Trump administration,

and even by their standards,
it's a pretty tacky one.

A major Trump donor
is accusing Kimberly Guilfoyle

of begging him to pay
her American Express bill.

Eric Deters, who once ran
for governor of Kentucky,

says Donald Trump Jr.'s former
fiancée begged him to pay off

her 100,000 dollar bill just six days
before she was confirmed

as the new U.S. ambassador
to Greece.

"It won't show up anywhere if you
wire money to American Express",

she wrote him
on the Signal messaging app.

"Please. Honey, please,"
she begged in another message.

"I need you to get this
done for me today."

Okay, first, that text is something.

"Honey, please send 100,000
to my credit card.

And sweetie, don't go on
the news later to talk about it.

And punkin, please also
send 100 grand to Sephora,

I need a new vat of charcoal eyeliner,

my style icon is a raccoon.
Prayer hands."

But let's just back up
for a second here.

Kimberly Guilfoyle
is the current ambassador to Greece.

And it was always an odd job
for her to get,

given she's probably best known
for this moment at the 2020 RNC.

The best is yet to come!

Yeah, that is just too much there.

Outdoor voice, cocaine eyes,
and Evita arms? Tone it down.

She's one step away there from
transforming into a flock of crows.

Anyway, Guilfoyle's been accused
of using her political influence

to make money from Eric Deters,
an ex-lawyer, radio host,

and former co-owner of the
Snappy Tomato pizza chain.

He apparently wanted a number
of favors from Guilfoyle,

including connecting him with the IRS,
which was questioning a deduction

that he'd made a few years ago,
and having the government help out

in a malpractice case against a doctor
who'd fled the country.

And Deters says
that he's coming out now

because the government didn't
follow through on that last one

or, indeed, any of the things
that he asked of Guilfoyle,

some of which are truly nuts.

I said, "Wait a minute, Kimberly."

You've not done anything
that you've promised me.

You haven't got me on Tucker.
You haven't got me on a Fox interview.

You haven't done squat.

You didn't get Kid Rock
the song that I wrote.

Hold on, "You didn't get
Kid Rock the song that I wrote"?

Do you know how bad
a song has to be

for it to be not good enough
for Kid Rock?

The guy who wrote a song featured
in the children's movie "Osmosis Jones",

in which he sang,

"Young ladies, young ladies,
I like 'em underage, see,

some say that's statutory,
but I say it's mandatory."

He performed that song
in a kids' movie!

You know it is bad when you have
the creepiest song on an album

that also features R. Kelly.

Anyway, based on those messages,

Guilfoyle seemed worried
about all this becoming public,

as "she warned Deters repeatedly
not to commit talk of money

or payments to text, saying,

"Eric, I really wish you would
stop papering all these things.

It's really dangerous and not
helpful to you or me

while you could
simply just call me on Signal."

And when he still didn't take that hint,
she later texted,

"What a nightmare, you'll literally cost
me my ambassadorship, stop writing."

Guilfoyle's lawyer has "disputed
the authenticity of the messages"

without giving any specifics.

But it's just the latest concern
about her appointment as ambassador,

given there's also been coverage
of, among other things,

her "bringing a registered lobbyist
to meetings with foreign officials."

Thing is, she hasn't even been
good at the easiest part of her job,

which is basically
just doing PR for America overseas.

In fact, just watch this video
her embassy put out,

featuring a speech that she gave
at a Fourth of July event

meant to fire up the assembled crowd.
Because it wasn't exactly electrifying.

As President Trump said,

this anniversary is a time
to be proud of our past.

But it is also a time to lift our
sights, expand our ambitions,

and raise our expectations
of what America can be.

We will leave our children nothing
less than the richest inheritance,

most advanced civilization

and highest standard of living
in human history.

What happened there?

Did the teleprompter just say,
"Do this part

like you're a Disney animatronic
whose battery is running out"?

The White House seems to be trying
to distance itself from Guilfoyle,

with administration
officials apparently discussing

whether she should be removed
from her post.

So, there may well be more to say
about this going forward.

Or, I guess, to borrow a phrase…

The best is yet to come!

Right. I couldn't have said it
louder myself.

But for now, we're actually gonna
dive straight in with our main story,

which concerns medication,
it's the subject of this 1980s PSA,

where a group of pills try and
discourage kids from eating them.

- This is serious!
- Serious!

- We could make you delirious!
- Delirious!

- You should have a healthy fear of us!
- Fear of us!

- Too much of us is dangerous!
- No, no!

- We're not candy…
- Believe us!

…even though
we look so fine and dandy.

When you're sick we come in handy,
but we're not candy.

Oh, no!

I do appreciate the message
there, but unfortunately,

I don't think I've ever wanted
to eat a pile of loose pills more.

I mean, there are literally
candy commercials that've made me

want to eat their product less
than those adorable singing Skittles.

Get into my mouth!

Specifically, we're gonna focus
on generic medications,

"drugs that contain the same
active ingredients, dosage form,

strength, safety, quality, and intended
use as their brand-name counterparts."

Or, as this director of pharmacy
services puts it…

The generic is the same as the brand.
There's no difference.

The only difference might be in
the filler, not the active ingredient.

It's that active ingredient
that's the same.

That's the important part.

Well, that's that part
that does the magic, yes.

Now, I'll be honest, "the part
that does the magic"

is a weird enough phrase as is,
before you realize

they chose to use Viagra
as the example there,

forcing all of us to remember that,
in certain cases, "doing the magic"

could well mean
making Grandpa rock hard.

But generics are, by far,

the most common type of medication
people take in the U.S.

They currently make up more
than 90% of all U.S. prescriptions.

You may even take them
without realizing it.

You may've been prescribed Zoloft,
but if you look at your bottle,

it might say "sertraline",
that's the generic.

If you're prescribed Lexapro,
your bottle may say "escitalopram".

Or if you're prescribed Prozac,
it might say "fluoxetine".

And if you've never taken any of
those meds, then congratulations

on being a happy, well-adjusted person,
and kindly go f*ck yourself.

But unfortunately, in recent years,
there've been eye-catching stories

about sudden drug shortages,

often involving some
exceptionally common generics.

Mass General
has a tough enough job

without having to deal
with a drug shortage.

I never thought we would get to a point
in the U.S. healthcare system

where we wouldn't have essential
medicines to be able to treat patients.

The hospital can't get enough
of the blood thinner heparin,

crucial for cardiac surgery.

How surprising was it for you to hear
that there was a heparin shortage?

Oh, it was completely surprising.

It's extremely frustrating.

I mean, it's like McDonald's
running out of ketchup.

Yeah, that's a pretty apt comparison.

A hospital without heparin is indeed
like a McDonald's without ketchup,

or a Subway without bread,
or a Chick-fil-A without the pervading

undercurrent of h*m*.

We've come to expect certain things
at certain places.

And it's not just heparin.

Apparently, there are 227 active
drug shortages right now,

and that's including
many essential medicines,

with some of the worst shortages
involving sterile injectables,

drugs often used in IV bags
that are a staple of hospital treatment.

It's now at the point that the AMA
has deemed drug shortages to be

"an urgent public health crisis
and a national security threat."

And for anyone relying
on a certain drug,

suddenly learning
of a shortage can be terrifying.

Take this woman, whose chemotherapy
was delayed for exactly that reason.

It's very frustrating to know
that there's a standard of care,

these two generic drugs,
and I can't get them.

Someday, I'm gonna die.

I really would rather not die

because these standard generic drugs
weren't available to me.

And I can't imagine my family
having that doubt, was it the cancer,

or was it that there was not enough
chemotherapy, and it got rationed?

Right. That is a question

no family should have to ask
after a loved one's passing.

It's right up there with,
"Why did Dad store all these old maps

of the San Francisco Bay area
in the attic?"

and "Why did he hide

this dog-eared guide book on how
to make cipher messages?"

and "Why did he put this old pair
of thick-rim glasses, a handgun,

and a knife in this shoebox
that he marked with the zodiac symbol,

oh, f*ck!"

And as you are about to see,

sudden shortages are just
the beginning of the issues here.

So given that, tonight,
let's talk about generic drugs:

how they're made, where they're made,
and what the problems can be.

And let's start with the basics:
under current law,

if a company
invents and patents a drug,

it's allowed the exclusive right to sell
it for a certain number of years.

The idea being, it can then recoup
its costs on research and development,

as well as, you know,
make a sh*t-ton in profit.

But once that patent expires,
generic manufacturers

can make their own version
and usually charge far less.

Take, as it seems to be
the go-to example here, Viagra.

Pfizer introduced Viagra onto
the market in 1998,

and had patent protections
for nearly two decades.

Then, cheaper generic versions
like all these started to emerge,

which was great news for thrifty,
horny grandpas everywhere.

Similarly, while Ozempic's
expensive right now,

cheaper generics will presumably
come when its patents expire.

And from a consumer cost perspective,
generics have been great,

collectively saving patients and the
healthcare system trillions of dollars,

and often slashing prices
by as much as 85%.

And that is mainly because the major
buyers that purchase drugs

on behalf of hospitals
and pharmacy chains

are "strongly incentivized to seek
out the lowest-cost product."

The problem is, as prices get
driven down, companies can suddenly

decide that making a generic is
no longer profitable enough for them,

which can result in worryingly few
manufacturers making certain drugs,

or in extreme cases, only one doing it.
And that can be a big issue.

Take this story from 2019.

Vincristine is one of the IV drugs
used in chemotherapy

to treat about 85%
of pediatric cancer cases.

But this summer, Teva, one
of two U.S. companies that makes it,

announced they would stop making it,
citing a business move.

Only now is it starting to catch up
to patients.

Brenna's mom Kristi fears the worst.

Relapse, or, in her case,
not ever beating the cancer.

The kids who don't finish
their treatment won't get a cure.

I'm completely disheartened

that a business decision
stands to k*ll 15,000 kids a year.

Kristi hopes with the help of
celebrities like Kevin Bacon,

who has also spoken about
the drug shortage,

she'll finally start to make some waves
of change for the sake of her daughter.

Look, that is terrible.
And it is clearly absurd

that it's somehow up to
Kevin Bacon to try and fix this.

Though, and I hate to be a petty b*tch,
technically,

he didn't post about that shortage.
His wife, Kyra Sedgwick, did.

Kevin Bacon just retweeted it.
Which is just not the same.

Still, I'm glad that he did it,
mainly to get the word out,

but also because
it was a refreshing break

from the unhinged content
that filled up his feed,

like this photo of him showing off
a giant zucchini,

and this video where
he made a necklace out of popcorn

so that, and this is true,
a goat could snack on it

while he serenaded it
with a Harry Styles song.

The man's entire Twitter feed
was an LSD fever dream.

The point is, while I am glad that
Kevin Bacon, but mostly Kyra Sedgwick,

helped get the word out,

and that woman's daughter was
able to get the drugs she needed,

we should
not have to rely on celebrities

to ensure adequate supplies of drugs
to treat kids with cancer.

But the broader story there
is not uncommon.

Basically, there were two companies
left making the drug.

One left the market,

and when the other
had a production glitch,

suddenly there was a big problem.

And the thing is,
glitches can happen in production,

that's true in drug
manufacturing generally,

but even more so in the generic
space, where companies are in a race

to make drugs
at the cheapest possible cost.

Things got worse as production's
increasingly moved overseas

to chase even more savings.

In fact, these days, roughly 60% of
prescription tablets and capsules

for the U.S. market
are made in India.

And it's estimated nearly a quarter
of our generic drug supply contains

active ingredients originated
from China.

I'm not saying manufacturing drugs
in other countries is inherently bad.

But being that reliant on them
can be a problem.

It's like finding out 80% of America's
milk supply comes from cows

personally milked by Javier Bardem.

Nothing against the man personally.
I love the guy.

But if anything happens
to that beautiful Spaniard,

our breakfasts going forward
are going to be f*cked.

There's growing evidence that where
generics are manufactured

can make a difference.

A study last year found the risk of
serious adverse events was 54% higher

with generics made in India, compared
with those made here in the U.S.

And researchers who've tested them
have found that they can vary wildly

in quality, with issues ranging from
contamination, to the wrong dosage,

to problems with how
the medication dissolves.

Just listen to this woman,
who had a heart transplant

and was reliant on Tacrolimus
to stop her body rejecting it.

Some generic versions of that drug
made by overseas cmpanies

didn't work as well. And that
could've had massive consequences.

If you get a one-month supply
of an anti-rejection medication

that isn't made right,
what's the consequence for you?

Death.

I would die.

To prevent her body from rejecting
her new heart, her medication levels

are supposed to be
between 6.8 and 7.5.

On one brand of generic Tacrolimus,
she tested at 3.9.

I was open for that whole week
for rejection.

I'm like, oh my God.

She switched to another,
which elevated her blood levels to 9.9,

an overdose, leaving her newly
transplanted heart vulnerable

to life-threatening complications.

I started shaking again,

which is the side effect
of being overdosed on Tacrolimus.

You shake.
It is a complete crapshoot

which one you're gonna get when
your pharmacy picks one to give you.

That's frightening.

Yeah, of course it is!

You don't want your life-saving
medicine to have the same selling point

as an L.O.L. Surprise! ball.
Because it could be anything in there.

It could be Kitty Queen,
or Coconut Q.T., or Steve Buscemi.

And while, obviously,
some very specific little weird girl

will love that, when it comes
to your medicine bottle,

you want a higher degree of certainty
regarding what's inside.

But unfortunately, too often,
that is just not the case.

When DOD had an independent lab
test the military's most critical drugs,

out of the first group
that they looked at,



meaning their product had
"major quality concerns."

And when it came to Tacrolimus,
the medication that woman was taking

to stop her body hitting eject
on her new heart,

one-third of samples tested red.
Which is not good!

And the harms of poorly made drugs
aren't just theoretical.

People have been hurt.
Take what happened a few years back,

with something as simple as generic,
over-the-counter eyedrops.

She said, "You have an ulcer
on your eye,

and if we don't get this under control,
you will lose all your vision."

In 2023, four people died,
four had to have their eyes removed,


and 114 suffered infections

from contaminated eyedrops
made in India.

Holy sh*t!

Anytime you hear about someone
getting their eyes removed,

and that someone
is not Mr. Potato Head,

it is automatically horrifying.

At this point, you might be thinking,
"Where the f*ck is the FDA in all this?

Aren't they supposed
to be making sure

that no one has to get
their eyeballs removed?"

Well, they are indeed tasked
with reviewing generic drugs

and inspecting factories,
to make sure everything's safe.

But the agency isn't resourced
or staffed remotely well enough

to inspect factories regularly,

especially given so many factories
are now halfway around the world.

And what that means in practice
is years can pass between inspections.

And even when the FDA does
show up to a factory overseas,

some companies have tried
to obscure any problems.

Just take what happened at a factory
in India run by a company called Intas.

FDA inspectors found
a "cascade of failure",

including a worker throwing acid
into a bin to destroy test records.

Wow, that looks bad!
Because let me be clear here:

there's plenty of good uses for acid.

You can use it to neutralize excess
alkalinity in a chemical solution,

or to increase hydrogen ion
concentration,

or to melt all of Manchester City's
Premier League title medals.

But destroying critical drug test
results is not one of them.

And on top of that, you should know,
while surprise FDA inspections

are common for U.S. factories,
most FDA inspections done overseas

are actually announced beforehand,
allowing manufacturers to both prepare

and potentially hide any issues.

In fact, one study found
that the odds of a facility receiving

the most severe inspection
outcome are over 250% higher

for unannounced inspections.
Which does make sense, doesn't it?

You clean up when you know
people are coming over.

The only reason
this studio's so clean

is because I knew you were
all coming here today.

Otherwise, this place would be
a complete pigsty,

and by the way,
I mean that literally.

I run a wet market here
the rest of the week.

I'm just trying to get ahead
of any Paramount budget cuts.

And when the FDA has actually done
unannounced inspections,

the results have sometimes
been terrifying.

Investigators cited Hetero,
a major maker of HIV, cancer,

and neurological drugs, for running
an unregistered testing lab,

and, somewhere in this village,

storing critical ingredients
in an undisclosed warehouse.

When FDA inspectors arrived,
workers ran and locked the gates,

refusing entry for two hours.

Once inside, inspectors found
bird droppings on storage units

and lizards and cats among
active pharmaceutical ingredients.

There is so much there,
I don't even have time to get

into the fact that the company
is called Hetero,

which sounds like the name
of a fitness studio

Pete Hegseth will inevitably open after
he leaves the Defense Department.

Yes, Pete, that is a great logo,
and no, you can't have it.

But clearly, you want to be able
to assume your medication's

being handled in pristine conditions
with high safety standards,

and not in a lizard-and-cat-infested
bird toilet.

And if you are thinking,

"I didn't even realize that lizards
and cats hang out together!"

then you are clearly unaware
of Junior and Atlas,

a real lizard and cat duo
who live together in an apartment

and, crucially, are best friends.
Take a look.

Atlas wants to rub up against him.

Atlas, I don't think he wants
to love on you today.

She wants to follow him.

She wants to make sure that he's going
where she wants to go.

The neatest thing to see is what
they enjoy doing together,

and their friendship
as they get older, too.

They're in love with each other.

What a beautiful friendship full
of love, joy,

and a palpable sexual tension!

Is it just me, or are they giving off
strong "will they or won't they" vibes?

Anyway, at this point,
you might be thinking,

"Well, if things are really bad,

the FDA bans imports from factories
that fail inspections, right?"

Well, sort of.

The problem is, with so few
manufacturers making certain drugs,

bans can lead to critical shortages.

So, what the FDA will sometimes do
is create "carveouts"

for certain drugs in short supply,

even if they are coming from a factory
with known quality issues.

Take what happened
at that Intas factory

where workers were pouring acid
on test results.

Production there,
understandably, got suspended.

But that had real consequences,

because that factory made,
among other things,


drug cisplatin used in the U.S.

That is what led to the drug shortage
that woman was talking about earlier.

And it wasn't even the only Intas
factory with problems.

That same year, another plant
failed inspection and the FDA barred

both of them from shipping drugs
to the U.S.

But here is the thing:

because it was so worried
about creating shortages,

the FDA simultaneously granted those
factories more than 50 exemptions,

meaning they could keep
sending certain drugs here.

Now, the FDA says those carveouts
came with requirements that Intas hire

"third-party" experts
to do additional safety testing,

and Intas insists it did that.

But it's a little weird to happily
trust a manufacturer

with that level
of responsibility when you've already,

you know, caught them dousing
test records with f*cking acid!

And all of this is obviously
very worrying,

or it would be,
if it was more widely known.

But the thing is, the FDA's actually
kept its drug exemptions largely hidden

from the public and from Congress,

with the agency's former top drug
official justifying that by saying,

"The information would have caused
some kind of frenzy."

But that frenzy
would've been for a reason.

Because I admit: sometimes what you
don't know really doesn't hurt you,

like the fact the McRib is actually
made out of squirrel meat.

But this is not that.

The FDA insists it works to ensure
all drugs meet a high standard

and that they
"recognize areas where our authority

could be strengthened and are actively
working to address this."

And to be fair to the FDA,
right now, this is clearly a struggle.

They're having to play Whac-A-Mole
with a bunch of bad actors

and they really have
no good choices.

'Cause certain drugs are critical,

so you don't want there
to be a shortage.

While you obviously don't want drugs
coming out of dangerous factories,

you also don't want to scare people
away from taking their meds altogether.

In fact, even a former FDA inspector
admitted, when testifying to Congress,

that there've been times when he's
prioritized keeping people calm

over telling them the whole truth.

You don't want to cause
unnecessary panic in someone.

And, you know, a lot of people
ask me before they'll take it.

They'll give me a call
or send me an email like,

"Hey, what do you think
about this one?"

And I'll give them advice.
And to be honest, over the years,

sometimes I have to fake that advice,
because I know there's no alternative,

and I'll have to just send
a positive email when, in fact,

inside, I know
that's not the truth.

That's not great, is it? And
a televised congressional committee

is a hell of a time
to come clean about that.

Just spare a thought for any
of his friends watching,

who'd sent him
one of those emails.

You're relaxing at home,
watching a congressional hearing

on the generic drug supply chain,
as we all like to do,

and you're just about
to put a pill in your mouth

when suddenly
he says that sh*t.

What the f*ck, Peter?
You lied to me!

So, what do we do?

Well, unfortunately,
there is no one big solution here.

Instead, experts point to
a lot of partial ones.

For instance: for our most important
medicines, we may want to consider

onshoring or even "friend-shoring"
production of those drugs

and their active ingredients,

meaning that we choose
to produce them ourselves

or ensure
that allied countries do it.

That might be wise,
in case we ever have, I dunno,

a crazy president who starts a massive
trade w*r with China for no reason.

But don't worry,
I can't see that ever happening.

Meanwhile, when it comes
to overseas factories,

we should probably be making sure
that the FDA has enough resources

to properly inspect them,
and to test drugs

from manufacturers
of particular concern.

And to its credit,
the FDA promised last year

to do more surprise
inspections overseas.

Although recent layoffs there
will probably complicate those efforts,

especially given "dozens of people
who help coordinate travel

for investigations like that
have been let go."

Which is both very stupid
and completely unsurprising,

given it feels like RFK's ultimate
vision for the FDA

is just one small office where a rabid
bear does pull-ups all day.

As for what
you can do as a consumer,

well,
the first thing I should say here,

and this is gonna sound ridiculous
given everything you've seen so far,

if you are taking a drug right now,
it is really important

for you to keep doing that.
The majority of generics are safe.

The last headline anyone needs
right now is

"Soap Opera Star John Oliver Tells
Audience to Stop Taking Their Meds."

'Cause only the first part
of that is true.

That said, it is worth paying
closer attention to what you are taking

and that is advice
that some doctors, like this one,

have found
themselves giving.

Years ago, I didn't know this,
and people would come in,

and they maybe have been stable
on their medication for years,

and then they come in and they say,
"I don't know what's going on.

I'm having a lot more anxiety, or
getting headaches or stomachaches."

Now, years ago, I used to probe
with those questions, "What's going on?"

Really asking a bunch of questions
to figure out what's happening.

Now, the first question I ask is,
"Does your pill look the exact same?"

And I would say
probably 75% of the time,

the issue is that there's been
a change of manufacturer,

and that's causing them
to have issues

with the way they're responding
to the medication.

Right, if you are noticing issues

when it comes to how
your medication is working,

maybe the first thing to ask yourself
is, do your pills look any different?

And the second is, did your new
prescription bottle randomly come

with a free lizard inside it?

Or, if your past prescriptions
always came with a lizard,

was your new bottle
suddenly lizard-less?

And if the answer to any
of those questions is yes,

that might mean your pill
manufacturer has changed.

If you are worried about
a drug that you are currently taking,

ProPublica recently built this tool,
Rx Inspector, which could be useful.

Very basically, just look on the
packaging that your pills came in

and see if you can find
the manufacturer.

If you can, and then you search
for that manufacturer on their site,

you should be able to find more
on the specific factory

where your drugs were made,
its inspection history,

and even inspection reports,
if they are available.

But obviously, in an ideal world,
we shouldn't have to be looking up

international inspection reports

just to feel confident
in the drugs that we take.

Ideally, we'd have a reliable rating
system for drug quality

that everyone could see
and that could then be used

to incentivize
the production of better generics.

But until big changes
like that happen,

more people should probably be aware
of some of the issues here.

And I can frankly think
of no better way to do that

than to welcome
some of my friends.

- Hey, guys!
- Hi, John!

Hey, good to see you.

No, no! We're not candy!

Even though we look so fine
and dandy.

No, I get it. You're not candy.
You've made that very clear.

You are generic drugs
and you are all very important!

Yeah, that's right, John!

And you should be a lot more
careful about how you make us.

And inspect
our factories more often!

- And also, we're not candy!
- No, I get that.

You've made that emphatically clear.

Is there anything else you guys
would like to tell everyone right now?

- Sure!
- Okay! Go for it.

- This is serious!
- It is!

You don't want your drugs
to be mysterious.

- Yes, we're cheaper…
- That is true!

But we shouldn't also
cost you a peeper.

- Use your brains.
- That's right.

- Fix your supply chains…
- Why?

- So we can help you!
- Exactly, guys! Exactly.

That's perfectly put.

So I can help
your heart transplant!

- Yeah, that sounds good to me.
- And I can cure your depression!

- Good luck with that.
- And I can help Grandpa get a b*ner.

Generic drugs,
ladies and gentlemen!

Thanks, guys! Great job.

And now, this! Thank you!

- You said it.
- I said the thing.

And now: Piers Morgan Can't Control
His f*cking Guests.

Me and her had a conversation
about this case and other things.

It was a private conversation.

But if Officer Tatum…

Hang on!

Hang on, guys, hang on.

You're very lucky…

And you've accused him…

It was a George Bush program.

Hang on, hang on.

Wait a minute, wait a minute!

This is so predictable.

I would like viewers to know what…

Please stop talking, Cenk.
Briahna!

Briahna. Briahna!

Please don't all talk at once.
We can't hear if you do.

Alan Baker, just to be clear…

Alan Baker, let me ask you this…

Kindly stop interrupting
and relax.

Moving on. Before we go,
a quick word about brand mascots,

like the Honey Nut Cheerios
bee, or the Pillsbury Doughboy,

or Ronald McDonald.

And fun fact, Ronald
didn't always look like this.

This is actually how he started out.

I like to do everything
boys and girls like to do.

Especially when it comes to eating
those delicious McDonald's hamburgers.

A magic tray here
keeps me well supplied.

McDonald's hamburgers, French fries,
and milkshakes.

Watch for me on TV.
We'll have lots of fun!

Oh, f*ck no!

That original Ronald is not fun.
That is a divorced dad

trying to save a few bucks on hiring
birthday party entertainment

by putting together a costume from
what he found on the floor of his car.

No, thank you!

But tonight, I want to talk about two
recent inovations in the mascot field.

And the first involves this thing.

Hello there.

- I'm sorry, who are you?
- I'm Liberty Biberty.

Yeah, Liberty f*cking Biberty.
You cannot have missed him,

as he's currently in countless ads
interrupting sports,

"Dancing With the Stars," news,

or basically anything that comes
with commercial breaks.

And while this show is firmly
on the record as being pro-puppet,

let me be clear: not this one.
Because I hate this thing.

That right there
is a fuzzy testicle with teeth.

It looks like Big Bird's
sleep paralysis demon.

The very name "Liberty Biberty"
sounds like what the devil

would shout in tongues
to herald his arrival on Earth.

And while I don't know much
about advertising,

I don't think it's a great sign
that my first reaction to that ad

was less "maybe I should switch
insurance providers"

and more
"is it technically m*rder

if the thing is already dead
behind the eyes?"

And the thing is,
I'm not alone in feeling this way.

I've never had beef with an object

more than I have beef
with f*cking Liberty Biberty.

Can somebody please tell Liberty Mutual
to let the Liberty Biberty sh*t go?

Cancelling my Liberty Mutual
auto insurance

because I can't f*cking stand
Liberty Biberty.

I don't know what that thing is
and I don't even know what you sell.

Day one of the playoffs.
Get Liberty Biberty off my screen!

I don't know what that furry
Liberty Biberty thing is,

but I know that neither of us can live
while the other survives.

Yeah, I agree with that.

And you know what,
this guy raises a good point:

what does a semi-sentient ball
of Winnie the Pooh's butt fuzz

have to do with insurance?

Imagine if you were in a car accident
and this f*cking pellet rolled up

to the scene to talk to you
about your deductible.

You'd punt it into the g*dd*mn sun.

But here is the problem:
in the world of marketing,

hate like this isn't considered
a bad thing.

If anything, it just makes the brand
feel more relevant.

For companies, basically any attention
is good attention.

Although there is
one notable exception.

And that brings us to the second
mascot that I want to discuss.

It's for a company
called Kiwibank,

a small,
state-owned bank in New Zealand.

It rolled out a new campaign,
featuring a green sheep

who leaves the farm for the big city,

only to discover the joys
of banking with them.

Being my own shepherd
was harder than it looks.

But then I found somewhere
that saw things differently.

After that no fence
could hold me back.

I arrived alone, but I never
would have made it here on my own.

I just needed a bank
that was bucking the system too.

Bank Kiwi. Kiwibank.

Yeah, that seems pretty harmless,
doesn't it?

Though, personally, I'm not sure
I want my bank to be

"bucking the system."

If anything, I'd like it to be firmly
working within the system,

maintaining all legal requirements
for my money

and not necessarily giving it
to a sheep

who happens to be good
at "Dance Dance Revolution."

But to each his own.

Some people, though, had a very
different reaction to that ad campaign.

About a month after it launched,
one user on Twitter posted

and I quote:
"I want to f*ck the Kiwibank sheep."

A post that quickly gained steam
after another user reposted it

and said, "Years of effort
to convince the world

New Zealanders don't f*ck sheep
has gone down the drain in one tweet."

That went viral, understandably,
and touched off a round

of sexualized posts
and drawings of Buck the sheep.

But even that might've
quickly died down,

were it not for a key decision
Kiwibank then made.

Because people soon noticed that
the original post had been censored.

It originally featured a GIF
of the sheep from the ad,

but it had been replaced
with the message,

"This media has been disabled
in response to a report

by the copyright owner."

Other posts ran into similar issues,
with Kiwibank issuing a barrage

of takedown notices, some of which
accused users of having

"taken Kiwibank's
distinctive Buck image

and used it to make highly sexualized
and inappropriate copies

which infringe
the Kiwibank copyright."

A reporter in New Zealand spoke
to someone whose post was removed,

who said, "My tweet was a joke,
obviously, I hope.

I do not think the drawing of a sheep
is sexy! Put that in the paper!"

Which is just an incredible thing
to feel the need to clarify.

Though, as that reporter later
told a radio interviewer,

other people he spoke to
weren't quite so reticent.

I did talk to someone in the furry
community, and they did say,

"This is an attractive sheep
as furry culture goes.

This is a very good-looking sheep."

And she does have what some
have referred to as "come-hither" eyes,

and particularly in the moment
in the ad where she gets a haircut.

This is what's really
got people going.

A lot of people online are saying,

if you didn't want people
to say your sheep is so sexy,

you shouldn't have made
such a sexy sheep.

Yeah, I think that's fair.
And while I know this isn't the point,

I do feel a little validated here,
'cause if I'm honest,

this is exactly what I assumed radio
in New Zealand was like every day.

But the thing is, Kiwibank's aggressive
response was counterproductive,

as apparently, for every lustful post
k*lled by a legal threat,

another 10 took its place.

In fact, people started posting
in solidarity, saying things like,

"I'm a Kiwibank customer and
I demand you allow social media users

to sexualize that sheep or I'll move
my money to a bank that will,"

and, "I'm joining the w*r

on 'stop saying you want
to f*ck its sheep mascot'

on the side of I want
to f*ck the sheep mascot."

Basically, a lot of New Zealanders
are going full "I am Spartacus" now,

if, that is, Spartacus wanted
to f*ck the Kiwibank sheep.

And as a result, the bank seems
to have curtailed its sheep content,

as in the first five weeks
after that ad campaign launched,

out of the 10 TikToks they posted,
six featured Buck.

Since then, they've posted 18 times,
and the sheep's in none of them.

Basically, the sheep is gone!

All of which brings us back
to Liberty Biberty,

because New Zealand
may've inadvertently

just given us a blueprint
for how to get rid of him forever.

All those people that want
to k*ll Biberty

have clearly been coming at this
the wrong way.

Biberty cannot die. He was
created in defiance of God's will.

For another, as Kiwibank has taught us,
love can do what hate cannot.

My point here is,

companies seem to be endlessly
thirsty for consumer engagement,

with one very notable exception.

So, if we want to see
the end of Liberty Biberty,

and I think we do,
it appears we have a pathway.

What I'm saying is,
it may be time to thirst openly

and enthusiastically
after this atrocity.

Because you know what Liberty Mutual
probably does not want to see now?

Images like this.

I'll be honest,
I don't really want to see it either.

But remember,
this is a means to an end.

And the company should know,
if this doesn't get the job done,

we have other b*ll*ts
in the chamber. Like this one.

Or indeed, like this one.

We have someone on staff
who does these drawings, by the way.

And you should know,
we asked him for a four out of 10,

and this is what he gave us.

Liberty Mutual,
do not make me ask him to go higher.

You do not want to know
what a six looks like.

The furry community has always
had a very particular set of skills,

and it may now be time for them to
use those skills for the greater good.

So, everyone might want to mute
the word "Biberty"

on whichever social media platform
you're on in the next week,

'cause I think things are about
to get a little spicy.

And to Liberty Mutual,
let me just say this:

if you didn't want people online
to say your Biberty is sexy,

you shouldn't have made
such a sexy Biberty.

That is our show, thank you
so much for watching,

we're off next week,
back October 25th!

I'm thrilled to be part
of the Skydance family!

Hope you're happy
with what you bought, guys!

We're never gonna change!
Good night!

Never! We're never changing!