John Oliver turned his attention on Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight. Or more specifically, he turned his attention to Mike Pence’s pet rabbit. Pence, according to Oliver, is “vice-president of the United States and the exact opposite of whatever a silver fox is.”
Pence is the one person in the Trump administration that cannot be fired, and for Oliver that is problematic, because Pence holds many extreme positions. For instance, in the past Pence has said that neither women nor gay people should be able to serve in the military and and has stated opposition to LGBT rights, including marriage equality and, per Oliver, possibly supporting so-called gay conversion therapy.
Over all, according to Oliver, Pence is much more unlikable than his pet rabbit, “Marlon Bundo,” which it kills Oliver to note is an objectively good name for a bunny. Marlon Bundo has been at official press conferences, has an Instagram account documenting his life with the vice president, and now stars in a new children’s book written by the Pence family — and one by Oliver. “In a complete coincidence, we have also published a book about Mike Pence’s rabbit,” announced Oliver.
There are a few differences between the books, though. In Oliver’s version, from illustrator EG Keller and Last Week Tonight staffer Jill Twiss, Marlon Bundo wears a bow tie, is gay and wants to get married to another boy rabbit, until a stink bug comes along. While proceeds of the book support The Trevor Project, according Oliver, there’s another reason to buy the book: “Selling more books than Pence would probably really piss him off.”
An audio version of the book is available, too, brought to life with the help of RuPaul, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, John Lithgow, Jim Parsons, Ellie Kempner, Jeff Garlin, and Jack McBrayer to help voice the book. Purchase Marlon Bundo on Amazon or at www.betterbundobook.com.
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