John Oliver vows big donation in sewage plant spat

Comedian John Oliver upped the stakes in a tongue-in-cheek spat with a Connecticut city, offering to donate $55,000 to charity if officials follow through on a joke to name its sewage treatment plant after him.

Mayor Mark Boughton said last week that Danbury was going to rename the facility the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant, in response to Oliver’s expletive-filled rant against the city on an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

“Why? Because it’s full of crap just like you, John,” Boughton said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Oliver’s Danbury diatribe came on his Aug. 16 show, in which he explored racial disparities in the jury selection process, citing problems three decades ago in Hartford and New Britain in Connecticut. He then seemingly randomly went off on Danbury.

On Sunday’s show, Oliver said he was delighted by the city’s response. But then he went off on another rant after playing a video of Boughton saying it was just a joke.

“Wait, so you’re not doing it? Aw [expletive] you, Danbury,” Oliver said. “You had the first good idea in your city’s history and you chickened out ... What a classic Danbury move.”

Oliver offered to donate $55,000 to Danbury-area charities if the city renamed the plant after him. If not, Oliver said he would make the donations in “rival” towns.

Boughton said Monday that officials were considering the offer. He said the City Council would have to approve any renaming of the sewage plant.

“I think it’s very generous and we appreciate that,” the mayor said. “It’s just a great distraction for people to get laughs.”