John Oliver really let new CBS News chief Bari Weiss, whose only journalism experience was in her own site, have it for the sheer audacity of accepting a position that puts her in charge of a real news organization. Via the Hollywood Reporter:

Oliver then brought up examples of stories reported by The Free Press that other outlets had contradicted with their own reporting, including accusations that the Transgender Center at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital was prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy without appropriately conducting mental health assessments; another on crime in Austin; and a third on starvation in Gaza.

As for that latter story, it was shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his social media account with the caption “Facts matter.”

This “is terrible for multiple reasons, including if Netanyahu ever shared one of our stories, I think I’d burn this place to the fucking ground,” Oliver quipped.

He added of his decision to focus his main segment on Weiss: “The truth is, we wouldn’t even have done this story were it not for the fact Bari Weiss has just been named editor-in-chief of CBS News, and that feels different because there are many opinion-heavy outlets out there from left to right and with low to high editorial standards. This show [Last Week Tonight] is, among other things, an opinion outlet, and while our staff works incredibly hard to research stories before we write something and vigorously check our facts afterwards, we’re also not the news. And I wouldn’t want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one that I happen to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News. But it is especially alarming to have someone doing it who has spent years putting out work that, in my opinion, is at best irresponsible and at worst deeply misleading.”

Oliver then criticized Ellison for “think[ing] that she and her editorial sensibility make her a good fit for the job.” He also noted that Ellison is reportedly planning to make a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO, home to Last Week Tonight. That “isn’t ideal, although I’ve gotta say, if what he likes about Bari is that she forces him to have hard conversations, to get a bit uncomfortable, maybe he’ll like this,” he added.

He did caution his viewers to pay attention to any differences at the news organization going forward:

“It is worth keeping an eye out for subtle changes there because, while I’m sure many of CBS’ good journalists will continue to do great work, if you start seeing people resigning or getting fired, or you start seeing stories that seem off in some way, especially if it involves the left going too far on a topic Bari Weiss cares about, it’s worth asking yourself why that might be, because unfortunately the much bigger answer might be that a billionaire has chosen to inject contrarian right-leaning opinion journalism into an American icon.”