John Oliver Celebrates His Emmy Win By Calling For A Nonsensical Thanks Of D.C. Public Schools

After winning the Emmy for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series, John Oliver quickly thanked his writers then moved onto what he felt should be the main focus of the evening: “Like Dave Chappelle, I would like to unexpectedly thank D.C. public schools, because I think it would be great if it started trending on Twitter for no reason tonight whatsoever.”

The crowd laughed, but Oliver was being serious. He continued: “If you’re tweeting about the Emmys at home, please use the hashtag #DCPublicSchools.” He then thanked Oprah because it felt appropriate, then asked to be played off.

Meanwhile, the hashtag took off, immediately trending just under #Emmys as the most discussed hashtag on all of Twitter. Such is the power of a John Oliver request for nonsense.

The hashtag started out simply enough, with most just addressing Last Week Tonight‘s big win, but then it kept going. It’s bleeding into every tweet about the Emmys.

https://twitter.com/luxamnesiac/status/909592625879142405

https://twitter.com/SamRWatkins_/status/909592587635437568

Very few acceptance speeches are remembered, but thanking D.C.’s public schools could end up being a thing that will be referenced for years to come. Hell, this might’ve been Oliver’s Sally Fields moment. “You like me” in 1985 is #DCPublicSchools in 2017. The industry sure has changed.

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