Think that all countries treat their capitals like the U.S. treats D.C.? Nope. As John Oliver pointed out on Last Week Tonight on Sunday, even the Dalai Lama thought it was “quite strange” that the people who live in the city where the federal government resides don’t get full representation.
Oliver spent nearly 20 minutes arguing why D.C. deserves statehood — and explaining why Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is like Mr. Smith from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, except she is already in Washington and has no power to change anything. And for those who argue that the American flag would just look bad with an extra star, Oliver thinks that’s a stupid complaint. “Sure, it would look slightly different, but we’ve been using a 51-star flag for this whole segment and none of you have fucking noticed.”
The segment ended with a group of children singing a song about letting D.C. have weed and kicking Florida out of the country if necessary because “no one thinks they’re great.”
Correction: An earlier version of this post said the Dalai Lama lives in Tibet; he is in exile (which is of course why Oliver used him as an exceptional case for the pro-D.C.-statehood argument).
