John Oliver Calls Out Anti-Vaxxers: 'You're the F***ing Problem'

18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, John Oliver has finally hit his breaking point. On Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver called out the unvaccinated adults refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine, as well as GOP ghouls like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who are willfully putting school-age children at risk. "To all of them, I can only say," said the HBO host, "You're the fucking problem."

After playing a clip of DeSantis telling press that Floridians will just have to "deal with" the pandemic, even as the country averages around 100,000 new cases a day (15% of which are among children), Oliver tore into the governor. "It's pretty tough to hear this cut-rate Coach Taylor say, 'Just deal with it,' when he seems to be very much not doing that!" he said, adding that DeSantis has banned school mask mandates.

Of course, DeSantis isn't the only Republican downplaying the severity of COVID-19. Oliver also played a clip of Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who told a North Carolina school board meeting that "the greatest threat to our children today" is not COVID-19, but "woke, liberal, government officials like you who think they are all-knowing and all-wise," a remark that earned him a raucous round of applause. "I would say I'm surprised by that, but this is a man who once posted this video of himself beating up a tree," said Oliver. "So, he clearly loves to pick useless fights against imaginary opponents where he comes out looking like a complete asshole."

Oliver then turned his attention to the parents at these school board meetings who have fought against mask mandates for children and, in many cases, have refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, even though it's been proven to make their children safer from the virus. "You really want to protect the health of children and the communities they live in? Here's your fucking answer!" he said. "We are only fighting about masks in schools because there are a bunch of foolish adults who have decided not to get the vaccine."

Last Week Tonight airs Sundays at 11:00 PM ET on HBO.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.