John Oliver was reporting on Joe Exotic before anyone else: 'It was a simpler time'

What do you remember most fondly about 2016, back when getting an Avatar sequel before 2020 seemed realistic? Yes, Obama was still in office. Sure, restaurants were still open. Oh, and Tiger King's Joe Exotic was running for president as a third-party candidate. Okay, unless you lived in Oklahoma, you likely only heard about that last one from the hit Netflix docuseries or John Oliver. On Monday, Oliver went on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where he took credit for reporting on Exotic back in 2016, before anyone else.

"You saw something in Joe Exotic when he was a glint in Netflix's eye!" Meyers tells Oliver, who included a clip from Exotic's campaign video in a segment on colorful third-party presidential candidates back in October 2016. Although reluctant to associate himself with the now-imprisoned Exotic, Oliver explained that at the time, producers "were looking for the craziest third-party candidate, found his ad, and it was just the lowest-hanging, juiciest fruit. You think, 'Could this be real?'" Oliver later added, "It was a simpler time."

In the campaign video, Exotic, standing in an enclosure with two tigers, hits on some of his favorite themes: "First of all, I'm not cutting my hair. I'm not changing the way I dress. I refuse to wear a suit. I am gay. I've had two boyfriends most of my life. I'm broke as s---. I have a judgment against me from some bitch down there in Florida. This is all paid for by the committee of Joe Exotic Speaks for America."

On March 29 of this year, Last Week Tonight tweeted a tongue-in-cheek apology for elevating Exotic's platform. "CORRECTION: In our show on October 16, 2016, we raised the possibility that Joe Exotic might be 'the perfect candidate' for the presidency. In light of subsequent events, we must regretfully concede that he was, in fact, the second-least-perfect presidential candidate that year."

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