John Oliver wants the pūteketeke to be named New Zealand‘s Bird of the Year, and he will scorch the earth to make it happen. A few days before the online voting began, Oliver launched what he admittedly called an “alarmingly aggressive” campaign to make his bird of choice the winner in the beloved contest. The Last Week Tonight host had no idea what amount of chaos he was about to unleash.
“This is what democracy is all about – America interfering in foreign elections,” Oliver quipped via The Guardian before throwing the full weight of his show and celebrity power behind the pūteketeke. “They are weird puking birds with colourful mullets. What’s not to love here?”
“I don’t just want the pūteketeke to win. I want it to win in the biggest landslide in the history of this competition,” the Last Week Tonight host said next to a massive pūteketeke puppet.
Oliver also took his campaign to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he arrived in a full pūteketeke costume. However, the stunt worked too well. Oliver’s aggressive campaigning caused the voting site to crash after being overloaded with votes. The incoming traffic was so overwhelming that voting had to be shut down and rescheduled for a later date.
Jon Oliver's campaign for the Pūteketeke to win Bird of the Century has kicked off with more than 10,000 votes coming in overnight! Verifying emails is a massive ongoing job – as you can imagine!!https://t.co/674rl8IyT8
— Forest & Bird (@Forest_and_Bird) November 6, 2023
According to Yahoo! Entertainment, Oliver’s shenanigans ruffled the feathers of bird enthusiasts who were hoping to see their favorite bird win. The late night host received some angry emails and was the target of social media videos, but he did not back down from his love of the puking bird. In fact, the debacle only hardened Oliver’s resolve.
“For the record, all of your birds are great. And it would be an honor to lose to any of them when results are announced on Wednesday,” Oliver said on Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight. “And the reason it’s so easy for me to say that is, we’re not gonna lose are we? We’re gonna win, and we’re gonna win by a lot. And when we do that, the pūteketeke will be your Bird of the Century, and there’s nothing any of you can do to stop that right now. Maybe good luck next century, New Zealand.”
(Via The Guardian, Yahoo! Entertainment)