This is not FCC Chairman and former cable industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler. It is, in fact, a dingo. Susan Flashman/Shutterstock.com
A couple of weeks ago, HBO's John Oliver took up the subject of net neutrality on his faux-news program, Last Week Tonight. In a widely shared epic rant, Oliver argued that Federal Communications Chairman Tom Wheeler has a conflict of interest in the debate over cable companies and Internet speeds, because he's a former lobbyist for the cable industry.
"That is the equivalent of needing a babysitter, and hiring a dingo," Oliver said -- a reference to the horrific Australian case involving the death of baby Azaria Chamberlain, later made into a Meryl Streep movie.
This put Wheeler in the unusual position of having to admit that he watched Oliver's segment, and to play along by publicly denying that he is a wild Australian dog. "I would like to state for the record that I'm not a dingo," he declared Friday.
This week, on his program, Oliver was having none of it. First of all, he argued, he hadn't said Wheeler was a dingo, just that he was like one. But, he added, "now you're denying it so strenuously I'm honestly starting to wonder whether you are actually a dingo after all."
Here's video (warning--there's some salty language):