John Oliver Gaslights America – Lies About Trans Medical Scandal
- Michael Costa
- 52 minutes ago
- 6 min read
On October 12, 2025, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver aired a segment targeting Bari Weiss, newly appointed Editor-in-Chief of CBS News following Paramount’s acquisition of her outlet, The Free Press. Weiss confirmed she will remain CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Free Press while taking on her CBS role, a move Oliver called a “billionaire takeover” of an important newsroom. John Oliver slammed the deal as “alarming,” citing billionaire funding for The Free Press, mocking Weiss’s TED Talk on media wokeness, and branding her an “irresponsible” hire who could turn CBS into “Fox News for AirPods people.” He called her appointment a “flat-earther at NASA” move and warned of a rightward shift with anti-trans news stories about “pronouns destroying America.” The segment, hyped by media as Oliver “sounding the alarm,” mocked Bari Weiss and The Free Press’s content, zeroing in on Jamie Reed’s exposé.
Framed as a critique of media consolidation, John Oliver’s segment devolved into a vicious smear against The Free Press and Jamie Reed, a whistleblower who exposed medical malpractice at a pediatric gender clinic. He accused Jamie Reed of being dishonest and claimed her story was “thoroughly debunked.” In actuality, John Oliver dismissed her evidence to prop up a dangerous industry that mutilates children. Jamie Reed was cited as a married lesbian with five kids and detailed her experience in a 2023 Free Press article, “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.” From 2018 to 2022, she worked as a case manager at Washington University’s Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, initially believing she was advancing equality.
“I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders,” Reed wrote. Her job involved intake assessments, coordinating care, and supporting families navigating transitions for minors. The clinic, opened in 2017, saw referrals explode from 28 to over 600 by 2021, operating like a conveyor belt for irreversible drugs and surgeries. Kids as young as 12 were prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones after rushed evaluations, often just two visits totaling under two hours. The Free Press noted that Jamie Reed saw children with severe issues like autism, depression, or abuse histories fast-tracked without proper mental health screening. One 14-year-old girl with ADHD, PTSD, and anxiety was put on testosterone despite parental objections.
Jamie Reed documented the horrors she witnessed while working at the clinic: skyrocketing cholesterol levels, hemorrhagic complications from surgeries, and chafing pain from phalloplasty in girls. The consequences were devastating and left innocent children permanently scarred. Patients suffered joint pain, bone density loss, and sterility — risks hidden from parents. One girl developed liver toxicity from bicalutamide, an off-label puberty blocker, spiking her enzyme levels. Another teen, post-mastectomy, endured excruciating pain from tissue expanders, begging for reversal but getting dismissed. Reed exposed medical coercion: parents were told their kids would commit suicide without transition, a baseless scare tactic used to trick parents into going along with what the clinics told them. “To transition, girls needed a therapist’s letter, but the center provided therapy, creating a massive conflict of interest,” Reed explained.
In staff meetings, physicians admitted ignorance, one saying, “We are flying the plane while we are building it.” The clinic prioritized expansion over safety as Missouri lawmakers probed youth gender care. Jamie Reed eventually resigned, handing affidavits, medical records, and emails to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. The Attorney General’s investigation backed Reed’s claims, prompting Washington University to restrict treatments and later close down the clinic amid lawsuits. Her testimony fueled bans on youth transitions in multiple states and federal cases, where she endured rigorous cross-examination.
With the LGB Courage Coalition, Reed calls these practices modern gay conversion therapy, noting 80–90% of gender-confused teenagers have been shown to desist after puberty and turn out to be gay adults. The majority of these children resolve their issues naturally without drugs or surgeries. John Oliver ridiculed The Free Press for publishing the exposé. His segment cherry-picked parent testimonials praising the clinic and completely ignored the hard evidence. He made no mention of the email exchanges proving doctors admitted to knowingly causing permanent harm to kids, and he even went on to frame Jamie Reed and Bari Weiss as anti-LGBTQ bigots, even though both of these women are gay themselves.
This isn’t John Oliver’s first time lying about the trans issue. He also claimed that there is “no safety threat” from males in female sports leagues. Gays Against Groomers called out his lies, citing a UN report on 900+ medals stolen from female athletes and Payton McNabb — the girl who got spiked in the face by a trans athlete during a volleyball match and now has partial paralysis. J.K. Rowling, in a prior segment, said: “An undoubtedly intelligent person spouts absolute bullshit to support something he wants to be true, but isn’t.” Oliver’s smear mirrors broader media capture. Outlets like Deadline and MSN echoed his “alarming” take on Weiss’s CBS role without scrutiny. The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Beast, Yahoo, Variety, The Wrap, and Mediaite amplified Oliver’s claims, noting his jabs at Weiss’s “anti-woke” agenda and conservative ties.
Yet evidence against youth transitions is mounting: the research has found “remarkably weak” evidence, spurring restrictions in Europe. Finland, Sweden, and U.S. detransitioner lawsuits echo Reed’s warnings of regret and harm. Evidence-based reviews of the research literature have been key to shutting down this scandal. Reed warned: “Most encounters with the pediatric endocrinology clinic should have involved months of mental health assessment. They lasted only a couple of hours.” Her bravery saved lives.
It is also worth noting that John Oliver’s fact-checking team is led by Dee Brent, a trans activist researcher with a history of harassing women in order to misrepresent their positions and smear them as bigots.
Dee Brent – transgender fact-checker for John Oliver's show.
John Oliver has no problem lying about child abuse and is eager to throw gay people under the bus in order to fit his narrative. Yet he accuses everyone else of biased reporting. Go figure. His platform, reaching millions, spreads lies that prolong this crisis and shields a predatory agenda that creates life-long medical patients — all at the expense of children.
References
Daily Mail. Shocking reason John Oliver is so fixated with defending trans athletes on his woke HBO show.
Women's Liberation Front. Daily mail runs story on wolf sending up john oliver.
Gays Against Groomers RADAR. HHS Review on Pediatric Gender Dysphoria Treatments: A Victory for Science and Child Protection.
Mediaite. John Oliver Skewers Bari Weiss as He Warns of CBS Shift Under New Editor-in-Chief.
Yahoo News. John Oliver skewers Paramount for hiring 'irresponsible' Bari Weiss to run CBS News.
The Daily Beast. John Oliver Tears Into Nepobaby Billionaire Trying to Take Over HBO.
Hollywood Reporter. Last Week Tonight John Oliver Bari Weiss CBS News.
MSN. John Oliver sounds alarm on billionaire’s CBS News takeover.
Deadline. ‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Explains Why Bari Weiss Taking Over CBS News Is “Especially Alarming,” Says Potential Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Is “Not Ideal”.
J.K. Rowling. [@jk_rowling]. Nothing about this feels good, because John Oliver generously gave his time for my charity Lumos and I liked him very much when I met him, but God knows, if you ever need an example of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, this video's for you. X.
Gays Against Groomers. [@againstgrmrs]. Here is a video of the girl getting spiked in the face. John Oliver is lying at the expense of girls everywhere. He should be ashamed of himself. X.
Gays Against Groomers. [@againstgrmrs]. John Oliver claims that there is no safety threat having male students compete against girls. Payton McNabb suffered severe head injuries after being spiked in the face by a male competitor during a high school volleyball game. X.
Variety. John Oliver Slams Bari Weiss’ Takeover of CBS News: She’s ‘Spent Years Putting Out Work’ That ‘Is at Best Irresponsible and at Worst Deeply Misleading’.
LGB Courage Coalition. Home ⋆ LGB Courage Coalition.
MI House Republicans. Rep. Paquette and Sen. Albert propose ban on gender transition procedures for minors.
STLPR. Is the Washington University Transgender Center shutting down? Here's what we know.
The Free Press. I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.
Jamie Reed Whistleblower. [@JamieWhistle]. John Oliver has decided to call me a liar today. That’s fine… 10 years from now when he tries to pretend like he never supported castrating feminine little boys, or cutting the breasts off of teen girls. I will remember. I just hope you will too. X.
Jamie Reed Whistleblower. [@JamieWhistle]. He decided to do a show attacking @bariweiss because of her promotion to run CBS News. His producers reached out earlier this week and informed me they were going to cover some of the articles that @TheFP has published. X.
TV Insider. CBS News Fans Get Warning From John Oliver About ‘Alarming’ New Boss Bari Weiss.
The Free Press. The Future of The Free Press.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. John Oliver on Bari Weiss and CBS News. YouTube.