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John Oliver‘s show last night tackled a topic he’ll readily admit he’s not qualified to discuss, but luckily, the late night host had some special guests to help him on Last Week Tonight. During a segment on Black hair, Oliver welcomed Leslie Jones, Craig Robinson and Uzo Aduba to help him — “a white guy on TV” — educate his viewers. “I’m not the ideal person to talk about Black hair,” Oliver said. “I look like I still go to an old-timey barber named Valentino and ask for ‘the tidy Liza Minelli,'” he joked, per The Wrap.
Oliver began began by pointing to examples of why he chose that night’s topic, from a call center employee who was fired from a job because of her dreadlocks, to a news anchor who falsely claimed on air that his co-worker was wearing a weave, to a Banana Republic manager who demanded an employee take out her braids because they didn’t fit in with the store. “Despite the natural hair movement, white people’s discomfort and ignorance around Black hair has very much remained,” Oliver said.
The late night host added, “While social stigma and unrealistic beauty standards aren’t going to go away overnight, there are a few things that white viewers in particular might want to keep in mind going forward, and to that end, if you are one, there’s a message you should probably hear,” before bringing in Jones, Robinson, and Aduba.
The three actors greeted the audience in their own mini PSA, beginning with “Hi, white people.” Jones began, “Look, white people. I know you have lots of questions.” Robinson added, “Like, maybe too many questions.” Ticking off questions like, “How often do you have to wash Black hair?” “What is a silk press?” “What does a do-rag do?” the actors had a simple solution.
“We’re about to fill you in,” Jones said. “We’re about to give you the answer to all of your questions about Black hair.” Robison chimed in, saying, “You ready for it? Okay, here it is: Google it.”
Aduba added, “I mean, it doesn’t have to be Google.” And to those who don’t want to Google their questions, she had another suggestion: “Leave us the fuck alone.” Robinson joked that white people have no excuse for not figuring Black hair out on their own. “You figured out Settlers of Catan,” he said, while Aduba added, “You figured out sourdough bread last year. I think you can Google the word weave.”
Watch the full Black hair segment from last night’s show in the video above. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs Sundays at 11/10c on HBO.