John Oliver spent part of Last Week Tonight’s main story on JD Vance Sunday night revisiting one of the internet’s strangest political rumors—and inviting viewers to email him directly for a very specific answer.
While discussing Vance’s history of amplifying misinformation online, Oliver pointed to the vice president’s role in spreading false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were abducting and eating residents’ pets—a rumor that helped fuel Donald Trump’s most infamous debate moment of 2024.
After airing a clip of Vance defending the claims in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Oliver pushed back on Vance’s argument that the controversy only gained attention once it became a meme.
“You didn’t turn it into a meme about cats,” Oliver said. “You shared misinformation that turned a whole town upside down.”
Oliver then contrasted that episode with the rumor that Vance had once had sex with a couch.
That rumor, Oliver explained, prompted his show to reach out directly to the-then senator’s office back in 2024.
“We called Vance’s team and asked, ‘Has the senator ever had sex with a couch?’” Oliver said. “To which, by the way, they hung up on us.”
Oliver said the show followed up with an email asking the same question, along with several additional clarifications—including whether Vance had ever had sex “with a latex glove stuffed between two couch cushions” or “any other furniture or household items.”
“So far,” Oliver said, “they still haven’t responded.”
“Which isn’t exactly a resounding ‘No,’ is it?” he added. “And it’s not like it’s hard to deny you f*cked a couch.”
Oliver then offered a way for viewers to see how easy such a denial could be.
“If you email [email protected] and ask if I’ve f*cked one,” he said, “I promise you’ll be emailed right back with an answer of ‘No way.’”
Sure enough, emails sent to the address receive an immediate reply—firmly denying that Oliver has ever had sex with a couch. For Last Week Tonight, which has previously spun up custom websites, hotlines, and even a legally incorporated church as payoffs for its jokes, building an auto-reply inbox may be the show’s simplest off-screen stunt yet.