John Oliver sued by doctor over allegedly manipulated toilet tirade

Late-night show host John Oliver was slapped with a defamation lawsuit for an episode that aired last April.

The “Last Week Tonight” host is being accused of manipulating the words of Dr. Brian Morley for “ratings and profits,” according to the New York Post.

“F**k that doctor with a rusty canoe! I hope he gets tetanus of the balls,” Oliver ranted in an episode titled “Medicare.”

Oliver played audio of Morley from 2017, that his lawyers allege was intentionally altered.

Healthcare exec sues John Oliver for defamation over toilet hygiene rant: ‘F–k that doctor with a rusty canoe!’ https://t.co/ROCPLUb4p6 pic.twitter.com/m4KsYEH6Gz

— New York Post (@nypost) April 1, 2025

“People have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves and we don’t fuss over [them] too much,” Morley is heard saying in the clip played by Oliver. “People are allowed to be dirty … You know, I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple of days.”

Audience members were repulsed by the clip, but Morley’s lawyers argue that the audience and viewers were dupped by comments that were taken out of context.

“Oliver’s feigned outrage at Dr. Morley was fabricated for ratings and profits at the expense of Dr. Morley’s reputation and personal well-being,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit claims that Oliver and his company purposely manipulated the quote by excluding critical context to “convey a defamatory meaning that they knew was untrue.”

In the full audio, Morely says, according to the lawsuit: “In certain cases, yes, with the patient with significant comorbidities, you would want to have someone wiping them and getting the feces off. But like I said, people have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves and we don’t fuss over too much.”

“It’s when the dirty and the feces and the urine interfere with, you know, medical safety, like in someone who has concomitant comorbidities that you worry, but not in this specific case. I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple days,” Morley continued.

During the episode, Oliver implied that the quote was in context and his team was privy to the entire testimony, the Post reported.

“I’ll be honest, when I first heard that, I thought — that has to be taken out of context. There is no way a doctor, a licensed physician, would testify in a hearing that he thinks it’s okay if people have s**t on them for days, so we got the full hearing,” Oliver said. “I’m not going to play it for you. I’m just going to tell you: He said it, he meant it and it made me want to punch a hole in the wall.”

Morely seeks an excess of $75,000 in damages, plus attorney fees.

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