British comedian John Oliver managed to pull off a sensational scoop by interviewing Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency to the mainstream media.
The host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight made the trip over to Russia, where Snowden currently has a three-year residency permit. The 31-year-old is wanted by the US government for two counts of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property.
Surprise!
— John Oliver (@iamjohnoliver) April 6, 2015
Despite littering the interview with gags and seemingly trivial questions, Oliver asked Snowden a number of hard-hitting and forthright questions, including the simple poser of why he did what he did.
“The NSA has the greatest surveillance capabilities that we’ve ever seen in the history. What they will argue is that they don’t use this for nefarious purposes against American citizens.
“But the real problem is that they’re using these capabilities to make us vulnerable to them, and then saying: ‘Well I have a gun pointed at your head, but I’m not going to pull the trigger – trust me.'” said Snowden.
Oliver also used the puerile and seemingly crass example of ‘dick pics’ to cleverly explore the concepts of global surveillance and national security.
We’re sure you’ll agree that the interview is both entertaining and gripping in equal measure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykfGWcmUbbk
