Dame Helen Mirren did no small favor for John Oliver on Sunday: she read several passages about forced rectal feeding, in an effort to get Americans to read the Senate torture report.
The host of “Last Week Tonight” was distraught to find that 57 percent of Americans are ignorant of one of the report’s key conclusions, that torture is not a successful strategy in tracking down terrorists.
Since so many people haven’t read the report and its graphic descriptions of torture committed by the American government, Oliver enlisted the Academy Award-winning Mirren to make a dent in people’s minds.
But before long he was asking her to stop, and begged to switch to anything else, maybe some Beatrix Potter.
“Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries,” Mirren began.
A placated Oliver asked for more.
“But while Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail were on their way to pick blackberries, Peter was chained to a wall in Farmer McGregor’s basement. He’d been badly beaten, and a tray of carrots and raisins was pureed and rectally infused,” she continued.
Watch the clip, courtesy of HBO:
