“Last Week: Tonight” host John Oliver on Sunday unloaded another monologue, unpacking the injustice of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Despite the fact that business is booming for the NCAA, the organization hasn’t backed down its refusal to pay its athletes.
“There is nothing inherently wrong with a sporting tournament making huge amounts of money,” Oliver said.
“But there is something slightly troubling about a $1 billion sports enterprise where the athletes are not paid a penny,” he added.
Oliver rolled a clip of the head of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, defending the league’s practice of not paying the athletes who make the business possible.
“I can’t say often enough, obviously, that student athletes are students, they’re not employees,” Emmert said.
Oliver wasn’t buying it.
“The only other people who say, ‘they’re not employees,’ that much are people who run illegal sweatshops out of their basements,” the host said.
‘They’re not employees! It’s a summer camp where they make the same t-shirt over and over again, thousands of times!” he shouted. “It’s summer fun, year-round!”
Watch the clip, courtesy of HBO:
