In A Twist, Oliver Commits To Attend Danbury Sewage Plant Opening

DANBURY, CT – After months of verbal volleying back and forth between Mayor Mark Boughton and the comedic host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”, Danbury will roll out the red carpet for the namesake of its $110 million sewer plant.

Boughton announced Thursday that Oliver has accepted the city’s offer to attend the ribbon cutting of what will be known as the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant nearly three months after Oliver included Danbury in a segment about racial disparities on juries.

Details of exactly when Oliver will visit Danbury are still being worked out, Boughton said Thursday at the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce annual meeting. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Boughton said that the event will not be open to the public.

A Boughton spokeswoman said that the Mayor was not available for an interview with Patch on Thursday and an email to HBO seeking comment from Oliver about his commitment to attend the ribbon-cutting was not immediately returned to Patch.

The announcement of Oliver’s visit comes a week after the city council voted 18-1 to name the city’s wastewater treatment plant after Oliver. Following the vote, Boughton posted on Facebook that the ball was now in Oliver’s court. Oliver pledged $55,000 to local charities in Danbury if the city indeed named the sewage plant after him.

The city said Thursday that a little more than $25,000 has been received from Oliver and that the money has been given to local teachers. In an email to Patch Thursday, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Food Bank said the organization has not yet received a donation from Oliver, but said that the not-for-profit has been following the story and is glad to see some good-natured ribbing between Boughton and Oliver turn into an effort that benefits so many people.

Sandy Tripodi., the executive director of the ALS Association's Connecticut Chapter, said in an email that the organization is anxiously awaiting word of Oliver's contribution, which she said will aid a not-for-profit that serves 400 people in Connecticut each year.

In a video that starts with Boughton stepping out of a Port-A-John, Boughton says that the city is going to take Oliver up on his offer but said that the comedian’s presence at the ribbon-cutting was a condition to the city turning over the plant’s naming rights. If Oliver chose not to accept the invitation, Boughton offered to name the Port-A-John after Oliver while adding $55,000 is “a little light for someone in the 1 percent.”

“A deal is a deal,” Boughton says in the video in which the mayor says he is communication with late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Trevor Noah about the plant. “Don’t Oliver this up.”

On his Sunday night HBO show, Oliver seemed to humorously honored by the naming rights offer, telling viewers that he "wants this...and needs this," before telling Boughton not to "Danbury this up."

In August, Oliver drew Boughton’s ire following a segment about the lack of racial diversity in jury selection. As part of the show, Oliver said that the only things he knew about Danbury were that it had been ranked the second-best city to live in the country by USA Today in 2015, that it once served as American’s hat capitol and that “if you’re from there, you have a standing invite to come get a thrashing from John Oliver, children included, (expletive) you,” the comedian said.

Boughton replied the next week in a Facebook video that the city was considering naming its sewage plant after Oliver because it’s full of (expletive), “just like you, John,” the mayor said. In the video, Boughton said he was coming for Oliver and that he was "coming, coming so hard, you will never know what happened," Boughton said.

The back-and-forth between comedian and mayor comes three years after Oliver put shamed Danbury's attempts to land Amazon's second headquarters, saying that the city's video bid was "almost too hilarious." Boughton has also offered to "throw the hands" with Oliver over his disparaging remarks over the city.

The notoriety brought from the HBO mention has, however, also spurred donations to other local charitable organizations, including local food pantries. Boughton is attempting to raise $100,000 for food pantries and said that offers to provide people with tours of the soon-to-be-named John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant in exchange for a $500 donation to city food pantries has gotten some takers.

"While there was some humor involved when I made the request, I do appreciate Mr. Oliver staying true to his commitments to our teachers, the food bank, and the Connecticut ALS chapter," Boughton said in an email to Patch on Thursday. "It's all in good fun, but we've been able to help a lot of people and that's what is most important."

This article originally appeared on the Danbury Patch