AEW mentioned on John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’
AEW continues to receive media attention for the anti-ICE chants that broke out on the February 4 episode of Dynamite.
Sunday night’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” featured a story on the actions that have been taken by ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) in recent months. During the segment, host John Oliver brought up examples of anti-ICE sentiment being found in unexpected places. One of those examples was the Las Vegas fans loudly chanting “f*** ICE” prior to the MJF vs. Brody King match on Dynamite.
“Excellent. Well done to everyone involved there,” Oliver said. “From the crowd getting their point across in the perfect way, to MJF going full Jim from ‘The Office’ [while looking] into the camera.”
King is a vocal critic of ICE and, dating back to last year, has sold merchandise calling for the law enforcement agency to be abolished. The role of the agency has received significant scrutiny following the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
When King faced MJF in a rematch at AEW Grand Slam Australia over the weekend, the international crowd repeated the same anti-ICE chants from the first meeting. Those chants were kept in for the TV broadcast despite the show being taped earlier in the day.
Giving his thoughts on the chants after they happened the first time, MJF said he thinks it’s really cool that AEW listens to its fans and does not censor them, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.