John Oliver Likens Elon Musk’s DOGE To Viral ‘Wonka’ Experience: “Stark Disconnect Between Marketing And Reality”

deadline.com:

On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver drew parallels between Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency to the ill-fated and shoddy Willy Wonka immersive experience in the U.K., which quickly became a viral sensation as the largest event ripoff/mishap since the Fyre Festival.

Oliver began the episode by criticizing the newly formed contracted organization as having “no idea what they’re doing,” pointing to an example where head Elon Musk mistakenly stated that its haphazard slashing of federal spending has resulted in $55 billion in total estimated savings.

Following the erroneous announcement, reporters uncovered a flurry of caveats and calculations that led to the oversight and inflated the number.

As NPR estimated, the savings actually amounted closer to $2 billion, which Oliver quipped was “a lot of numbers away” from the originally touted figure. “In fact, there hasn’t been such a stark disconnect between marketing and reality since it turned out the Glasgow Wonka Experience was actually this,” he said, flashing an image from the event that took the internet by storm in February 2024, featuring an image of a downtrodden-looking, green-haired woman surrounded by beakers and a cloud of smoke. “Right now, we are all her,” Oliver joked.