--- title: Columbus Day 2014: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Cartoon Segment description: Plus, some recommendations for alternative holidays canonical: https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-13T16:29:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:40.173Z og:title: John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing? og:description: Plus, some recommendations for alternative holidays og:url: https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79708bb7b4ef7d58/69876056cd68485bcc0970e7/screen-shot-2014-10-13-at-11-58-49-am.png?branch=production&width=912&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 912 og:image:height: 513 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 11.58.49 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing? twitter:description: Plus, some recommendations for alternative holidays twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79708bb7b4ef7d58/69876056cd68485bcc0970e7/screen-shot-2014-10-13-at-11-58-49-am.png?branch=production&width=912&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=adf66d82-7cae-4d06-9560-6ddd5b4ecf44&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: See How Columbus Got His Own Holiday [Watch (HLS stream): See How Columbus Got His Own Holiday](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6AypkdPF.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2014-10-10. See How Columbus Got His Own Holiday_ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Oct 13, 2014 4:29 PM UTC  by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Oct 13, 2014 4:29 PM UTC It’s entirely possible that you forgot — or that your city [celebrates](http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/12/living/columbus-day-indigenous-people-day/) Indigenous People’s Day instead — but today is Columbus Day. This got the writers at John Oliver’s HBO show _Last Week Tonight_ asking themselves a question: Why is this holiday still a thing? The segment makes a pretty solid case against this national holiday — and then offers some ideas for other Italian people we could honor instead. Frank Sinatra? Mario Batali? Al Pacino? None of _them_ killed any indigenous people. That we know of. **MORE:** [John Oliver Thinks You’re Ridiculous for Loving Pumpkin Spice Lattes](http://time.com/3501877/john-oliver-pumpkin-spice-latte/) **MORE:** [Bummed About Having to Work on Columbus Day? Read This](http://time.com/money/3490919/columbus-day-who-has-to-work-why/) ## _Read next:_ * [_Who Has Columbus Day Off (and Who Doesn’t)_](http://time.com/4064411/columbus-day-2015-national-holiday-work/) * [_Bummed About Having to Work on Columbus Day? Read This_](http://time.com/money/3490919/columbus-day-who-has-to-work-why/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ## Transcript This is Christopher Columbus, the first man to set foot in the Americas. Okay, maybe not the first man. And perhaps not him either. Columbus never set foot on what is now known as North America, but the infamous explorer is lauded in history books for discovering the new world in 1492. [ MUSIC ] Five century's later amidst debate surrounding the holiday, It; 's biggest supporters are Italian. [ NOISE ] In fact the reason the holiday exist is because of lobbying by the Italian American community. In 1907 the father of Columbus Day Angelo Noce, an Italian immigrant, living in Colorado. Helped to make it legal in 35 states. Later Italian businessman Generoso Pope teamed up with the Knights of Columbus to convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to make it a Federal holiday. Today almost all US states recognize Columbus Day except for four, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and South Dakota. Hawaii instead celebrates Discovery Day to remember the Polynesians who first settled in Hawaii. And South Dakota celebrates Native American day. Let's not forget about Canada which doesn't recognize Columbus Day at all. Canada instead commemorates the voyage of Englishman Martin Frobisher. Who was looking for a northwest passage and accidentally landed on a Canadian island. That holiday is called Thanksgiving. In some Latin American countries, it's called Dia De La Raza, Day of Race, the celebration of the joining of Europeans and Native Americans. In Argentina, they call it the Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity [ MUSIC ] And in a totally different spirit, Venezuela has deemed it the Day of Indigenous Resistance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/"},"headline":"John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing?","datePublished":"2014-10-13T16:29:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:40.173Z","description":"Plus, some recommendations for alternative holidays","url":"https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Holidays","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79708bb7b4ef7d58/69876056cd68485bcc0970e7/screen-shot-2014-10-13-at-11-58-49-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79708bb7b4ef7d58/69876056cd68485bcc0970e7/screen-shot-2014-10-13-at-11-58-49-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 11.58.49 AM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/","name":"John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See How Columbus Got His Own Holiday","description":"See How Columbus Got His Own Holiday","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6AypkdPF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-10T20:29:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6AypkdPF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/","duration":"PT1M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3502331/john-oliver-columbus-day/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```