Watch John Oliver Explain Just How Mind-Bogglingly Ridiculous Beauty Pageants Are

membership ticker

Autocratic forces are ascendant.

Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against an autocrat’s unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought, bent, or broken. Depend on it, and please stand with us.

Autocratic forces are ascendant in America. But truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against the unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought or broken. Please stand with us.

Beauty pageants are a pretty insane and demeaning thing for us to still be doing as a society in 2014. I mean, yes, Miss Congeniality was an OK film, but the sequel was awful. Also, the whole thing—beauty pageants, not the Miss Congeniality franchise—sort of stinks of sexism and mores best left to rot in the ’50s.

Here’s John Oliver taking the Miss America pageant (and its somehow more mockable competitor Miss USA) to task.