Last Week Tonight host John Oliver is being sued over comments he made about a former Medicaid medical director.
Dr. Brian Morley, once a medical director at AmeriHealth Caritas, is suing Oliver and his production company, alleging that the Emmy-winning comedian took his words grotesquely out of context, irreparably harming his career and reputation.
At the center of the lawsuit is Oliver’s claim made in an episode broadcast in 2024 that Morley ‘thinks it’s okay if people have s*** on them for days.’
The line was aired during a blistering segment on Medicaid cost-cutting and managed care abuses, and was followed by Oliver’s response: ‘F*** that doctor with a rusty canoe. I hope he gets tetanus of the balls.’
Like many others comments on Oliver’s HBO show it was laced with sarcasm and but according to Morley’s legal team, it crossed a line and ignored the truth.
Morley’s defamation suit that was filed in federal court on Friday argues Oliver and his team intentionally twisted his testimony to paint him as a cold, negligent villain willing to let disabled patients rot in their own waste, the Independent reported.
The legal filing goes on to state that Morley never claimed it was ‘okay’ or medically appropriate for people wearing diapers or who are otherwise immobile ‘to have s*** on them for days,’ and calls Oliver’s characterization a malicious distortion of what Morley actually said in a 2017 administrative hearing in Iowa.
During the episode, Oliver presented the story of Louis Facenda Jr., a 25-year-old Iowan with cerebral palsy who lost access to crucial Medicaid services.
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver is being sued over comments he made about a former Medicaid medical director – and one that involved accusations of neglect, bodily waste, and a wish for the doctor to contract ‘tetanus of the balls’
At the center of the lawsuit is Oliver’s claim made in an episode broadcast in 2024 that Dr Brian Morley made. The comments were first reported by the Des Moines Register
The cuts saw Facenda lose nursing visits to help him bathe and change diapers after AmeriHealth Caritas slashed payments. For six weeks, he went without medication and regular care.
Oliver contrasted this with Morley’s 2017 testimony about another patient, Nathan McDonald, whose in-home visits had also been cut from twice a day to five times a week.
‘People have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves, and we don’t fuss over [them] too much,’ Morley testified, according to the Des Moines Register.
Audio of Morley’s testimony was played by Oliver on the show. ‘People are allowed to be dirty… You know, I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple of days.’
Court documents state how Morley ‘did not equate wiping poorly with leaving anyone sitting in their own feces for days,’ and actually ‘testified to the opposite,’ the lawsuit says.
Oliver seemed to want to use the clip to capture the cold logic of corporate cost-cutting at the expense of human dignity, but Morley insists the statement he made was grossly misinterpreted.
In a meticulous breakdown, the lawsuit claims that Morley’s comments were about ambulatory individuals who are not bedridden or dependent on in-home care.
Morley’s suit insists he was referring to ‘the average individual who is independently mobile but may not wipe perfectly – not someone who is wearing diapers or otherwise laying in their own bowel movements.’
Like many others comments on Oliver’s HBO show it was laced with sarcasm and wit but according to Morley’s legal team, it also crossed a line and ignored the truth
Morley was not referring to wheelchair-bound or incontinent patients, his legal team insists.
The episode in question, titled ‘Medicaid,’ aired in April 2024 and delivered one of Oliver’s most passionate attacks on corporate health care in recent years.
Citing reports of a ‘900 percent increase in members being illegally denied services,’ Oliver railed against private insurers contracted to manage Medicaid services in states like Iowa.
The segment was widely praised by advocates for drawing attention to managed care abuses – but Morley claims the price of that exposure was his personal and professional ruin.
He says he received threats, harassment, and reputational damage, and is now demanding a full retraction, removal of the episode from all streaming platforms, and monetary damages to be determined by a jury.
Attorney’s for both Morley and John Oliver and his production team have been contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.
