John Oliver criticized President Biden for calling the horrific mass shootings in Atlanta against Asian-Americans "un-American" on a recent episode of Last Week Tonight.
21-year-old man, Robert Aaron was charged with eight counts of murder, six of which involved Asian-American women.
In a response to the mass shootings, President Joe Biden said, "[These are] vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who've been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated. It's wrong, it's un-American and it must stop."
Oliver pointed out that racism against Asian Americans is not an aberration, rather a part of the American life.
The TV host said, "I am really glad that he condemned hate crimes against Asians there but to say they are un-American — I would love to visit the nation that exists in Joe Biden's head. Because it's a place where racism is 'not who we are' and racist attacks against Asians are somehow 'un-American' despite the fact that, far be it for me to explain this to someone who seem like he's lived through most of American history, anti-Asian racism has long been a fact of American life."
Oliver continued, "Not only are attacks against Asians very much American, so is denying that they're racist. It's so American, in fact, that the National Anthem should begin, 'Oh say can you, it's not about race?'"
Oliver also condemned Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Captain Jay Baker who was perceived as being sympathetic towards the suspect, Robert Aron, by claiming that the murders were not racially motivated and that Aron "had a bad day."
"Absolutely-not. You do get this is a press conference about a mass murderer, right? You don't get to minimize what happened like that," Oliver said.
"A white man driving across two counties going to three Asian-owned businesses shooting and killing six Asian women in a city that's only about 4 percent Asian sure as shit seems more like a hate crime to me than a 'bad day.'"
