John Oliver jokingly took aim at Emmys host Nate Bargatze, who vowed to keep speeches short Sunday at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.
While accepting the award for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series for his HBO show “Last Week Tonight,” the talk show host zipped through his speech — but not before responding to Bargatze’s scheme.
The comedian/host promised a $100,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, but he threatened to deduct $1,000 for each second a winner’s speech exceeded the allotted 45 seconds.
Rapidly thanking his team, family and HBO as he rushed to stay under the allotted time, Oliver then wrapped up his thank yous by jokingly catapulting a few curse words at Bargatze that were bleeped from his speech.
Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, reacted to the cheeky, heavily censored moment as they questioned what Oliver said.
“Fuck you, Nate Bargatze, that is a lot of money for you, and you can add a fuck to the swear jar as well,” Oliver said before exiting the stage, according to uncensored streams of the show.
Oliver is no stranger to dropping expletives at the Primetime Emmys.
Last year, he dropped an F-bomb when the Emmys producers began to cut his acceptance speech short by playing send-off music.
“Fuck you!” Oliver said in response.
Sunday’s ceremony marked the third straight year “Last Week Tonight” has won in the Outstanding Scripted Variety Series category.
Check out a complete list of the winners from the Primetime Emmys here.