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‘Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver Can’t Believe They Had to Do an Episode on Libraries

By Erick Massoto

Published May 9, 2024

Oliver is (rightly) outraged that people are attempting to ban books in 2024.

Image via HBO

The Big Picture

Parents are pushing to ban certain books from public libraries.
Parents cite concerns over LGBTQIA+ content in books, but libraries are democratic spaces providing options for all ages.
Some cities have caved to pressure and banned books despite authors agreeing books should be appropriately shelved by section.

Whenever a subject from a new episode of Last Week Tonight is unveiled, it's pretty easy to understand why its host John Oliver would have to do a deep dive into it. When the episode centered on Medicaid, for example, you could tell what sort of issues the main segment of the show would highlight. But sometimes the assumption doesn't come as easy — in this week's show, Oliver tackled public libraries... which you wouldn't immediately associate with imminent danger, but here we are.

It's not enough that social media and the digital era are driving younger generations away from reading habits. There is also a movement in the U.S. actively trying to ban books from public libraries. Those concerned parents claim that you can find on the shelves books that incentivize child trafficking, terrorism, and even pedophilia. The situation has gotten elevated to such a degree that librarians have had to go on record to state that they're not pedophiles or groomers, and that parents need to actually read the books they're trying to ban to know what the heck they're talking about. But that's just too much trouble, and their response to that is they "read the summary" and believe it told them all they needed to know.

Additionally, book censors are extremely worried that some books might be promoting the LGBTQIA+ "agenda," but Last Week Tonight reminds us that a library — especially a public one — is a democratic space that should offer reading options for everyone, and most importantly, for all ages. If a kid is flipping through a book with adult content, it probably means that they were roaming unsupervised inside the library, and Oliver suggests that this would certainly be a bigger issue to address.

'Last Week Tonight' Reminds Us How Libraries Work

It's also important to note that authors themselves agree that books should be appropriately shelved within their correct section. Author Maia Kobabe, whose graphic novel Gender Queer became targeted by conservative parents due to its sexual content, fully agrees that the memoir shouldn't be in kids' hands because they are not the target audience. She stated:

"I don't think the book is for children, but I do think that it is appropriate for teen readers. And also that libraries have books for all ages, and you shelve them with signage and people browse and find the books that they need in a library. Not every book in a library is for every reader, but they still need to be available."

Despite all this, there are several instances of cities that budged under pressure and accepted book-banning demands from groups of parents. You can find out the sort of books they targeted and their arguments by watching the main segment of the show above.

New episodes of Last Week Tonight air on Sundays at 11 PM ET on HBO and segments are available on YouTube on Wednesday. You can watch full episodes on Max.