--- description: Plus, some recommendations for alternative holidays title: John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79708bb7b4ef7d58/69876056cd68485bcc0970e7/screen-shot-2014-10-13-at-11-58-49-am.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # John Oliver Asks: How Is Columbus Day Still a Thing? by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 13, 2014 4:29 PM CUT  by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 13, 2014 4:29 PM CUT 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/ "undefined") 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/ "undefined") **MORE:** [Bummed About Having to Work on Columbus Day? Read This](http://time.com/money/3490919/columbus-day-who-has-to-work-why/ "undefined") ## _Read next:_ * [_Who Has Columbus Day Off (and Who Doesn’t)_](http://time.com/4064411/columbus-day-2015-national-holiday-work/ "undefined") * [_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 "undefined") ```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":"2026-04-13T07:13:45.924Z","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"}}] ```