John Oliver compares the royal family to ‘Mickey and Minnie at Disneyland’

The US presenter John Oliver has mocked the royal family in the latest episode of his talk show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Oliver raised the topic of the royals, questioning the point of them – given that they cost the British public an estimated £100m a year.

Supporters of the monarchy argue that the royal family brings in around £500m profit per year, but Oliver questioned if that was really the case.

“Think of the royals as Mickey and Minnie at Disneyland,” the presenter said.

“They’re not running the rides, but they’re a mascot for the whole operation and people kinda like having their pictures taken with them.”

The presenter went on to suggest that the family isn’t in need of the money they are given.

“The royal family’s wealth, unlike their gene pool, is massive,” Oliver said.

He added: “To me, [the royal family] is like a human appendix,” he added. “We’ve long evolved past needing them and there’s a compelling case for their surgical removal,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the presenter has made swipes at the royals. In September, Sky removed comments he made after the Queen’s death from the British broadcast of his Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

The original HBO show aired in the US in full on Sunday 11 September but a shortened version was broadcast the following day in the UK and Ireland.

It then transpired that Oliver’s remarks about the Queen, who died on Thursday 8 September, were removed.

The original episode contained jokes made by Oliver while he read out social tributes to the Queen, reported by Deadline at the time.

“Obviously, we have to start with the UK, which is clearly still reeling from the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes,” he apparently said sarcastically during the original broadcast.

“It is a big moment this week and for some reason absolutely everyone felt they had to wade in on [it],” he continued, mocking some of the tributes.