The latest episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight titled Indian Elections, Trump & Red Lobster – which is critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has not been aired yet by HBO’s official streaming partner JioCinema as on Monday, June 3. Viacom18, controlled by Reliance Industries, had signed a deal with Warner Bros to stream popular HBO shows and movies through JioCinema. It is to note that the results of the Lok Sabha elections would be announced on Tuesday, June 4.
The 13th episode of the talk show was posted on YouTube on June 2 but has not been made available in India yet. It will be made public on June 6. This is due to HBO changing its policy of uploading full episodes from the show on YouTube, a day after it was aired, to increase subscriptions. Instead, the show will be made available on YouTube only on Thursdays.
However, since Viacom 18 has struck a deal with Warner Bros, it can be readily seen through JioCinema in India. But the last uploaded video of the talk show, titled Corn, was aired on May 19, and the new episode is yet to be uploaded.
A video of the talk show being circulated on social media shows the host fearing censorship and asking the audience to visit oppositesnakes.com and howtoeatmangoes.com in case the episode is taken down from YouTube. “I don’t know if this episode is definitely not going to end up airing in India, depending on what they do with the laws around YouTube. If you have friends and family living in India who would like to see it, just encourage them to visit these sites,” he adds.
This is not the first time JioCinema has restrained from streaming John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. An episode in 2020, where John Oliver talks about PM Modi, protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Gujarat Riots and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh among others, is not available for streaming. The show’s previous streaming partner Disney + Hotstar was heavily criticised by John Oliver for their decision to not stream this particular episode.
TNM has reached out to spokespersons of Viacom18 and JioCinema for their comments. This article will be updated as and when we receive a response.