John Oliver is dealing with a brand new lawsuit.

The comic is being sued by Dr. Brian Morley, a doctor and healthcare official who alleges he was defamed in a 2024 episode of Last Week Tonight that criticized his former employer, AmeriHealth Caritas.

Morley's criticism, which was filed within the New York Southern District Court docket on Friday and has been reviewed by Leisure Weekly, claims that Oliver and his crew "solely snipped out of context and manipulated two sentences of Dr. Morley’s testimony" throughout an administrative continuing in order that they might "accomplish their defamation."

Morley, who labored for AmeriHealth Caritas as a medical director that reviewed sufferers' Medicaid requests, seeks $75,000 in compensatory damages, plus particular and punitive damages, and in addition calls for that the allegedly defamatory statements be pulled from circulation.

Representatives for Final Week Tonight stated in an announcement despatched to EW, "We strongly dispute this meritless lawsuit and stay up for vigorously contesting it in courtroom. We should not have any additional touch upon pending litigation."

Reps for John Oliver didn’t instantly reply to EW's requests for remark. An lawyer for Morley declined remark. A consultant for HBO additionally declined to remark.

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Within the criticism, Morley's attorneys name out Final Week Tonight's episode about Medicaid from April 2024, claiming that the host made "false accusations" in regards to the physician that "have been designed to spark outrage" and arguing that Oliver "feigned outrage" that was "fabricated for rankings and earnings on the expense of Dr. Morley’s status and private well-being."

The second in query got here when Oliver mentioned disabled sufferers being denied care from managed care organizations that run Iowa's Medicaid program, particularly focusing about motionless sufferers' care and cleanliness following bowel actions.

The episode performed a clip of Morley's testimony in a 2017 AmeriHealth administrative listening to, the place the plaintiff may be heard saying, "Individuals have bowel actions day-after-day the place they don't fully clear themselves, and we don't fuss over [them] an excessive amount of. Individuals are allowed to be soiled… you recognize, I might permit him to be just a little soiled for a few days."

Oliver then stated, "Look, I'll be trustworthy, once I first heard that, I believed, 'That must be taken out of context. There isn’t any approach a health care provider, a licensed doctor, would testify that he thinks it's okay if individuals have s— on them for days. So we received the total listening to. I'm not gonna play it for you. I'm simply gonna let you know: he stated it, he meant it, and it made me wish to punch a gap within the wall."

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Shortly thereafter, Oliver straight addressed Morley, exclaiming, "If I completely needed to put it into phrase, I assume I'd say, F— that physician with a rusty canoe. I hope he will get tetanus of the balls. And if he has an issue with my language there, I'd say, I'm allowed to be soiled. Individuals are allowed to be just a little soiled typically. Apparently that's physician's f—ing orders."

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Morley's criticism claims that the Final Week Tonight crew "expressly asserted that they weren’t taking Dr. Morley’s testimony out of context, figuring out they’d deliberately manipulated the context and their broadcast to convey a defamatory that means that they knew was unfaithful."

The doc argues that Morley "didn’t testify that it’s 'okay' or medically applicable for anybody to take a seat or lay in their very own feces, for days at a time or in any other case," claiming that Final Week Tonight drew false parallels between a "hypothetical" affected person that Morley was discussing throughout his testimony and Louis, a disabled affected person who was denied in-home bathing and diaper altering providers that he wanted.

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The criticism claims that Morley's full, unedited quote throughout the testimony stated, "In sure instances, sure, with the affected person with vital comorbidities, you’ll wish to have somebody wiping them and getting the feces off. However like I stated, individuals have bowel actions day-after-day the place they don’t fully clear themselves and we don’t fuss over an excessive amount of. Individuals are allowed to be soiled. It’s when the soiled and the feces and the urine intrude with, you recognize, medical security, like in somebody who has concomitant comorbidities that you simply fear, however not on this particular case. I might permit him to be just a little soiled for a pair days."

The attorneys additionally allege that Morley demanded that the statements in query be retracted in October, and that the Final Week Tonight crew refused to take action in November.

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