John Oliver enlists Billy Porter, Catherine O'Hara and more to debunk COVID conspiracies

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (new episodes Mondays on Crave) has always been a show about confronting the ills and stupidities plaguing the modern world with a mix of humour and activism. Who could forget the browser extension he created that would turn every mention of Trump into Drumpf? Or his longstanding gag of a giant squirrel named Mr. Nutterbutter to hurl insults at a coal baron? So you can bet with the current push by COVID-19 deniers and conspiracy theorists to get the U.S. to open schools when there are tens of thousands of new infections every day in their country, John definitely had something to say about it.His show returned from its two-week hiatus on July 19 with the host debunking a bunch of misconceptions and wild theories about the novel coronavirus. No, wearing a mask won’t re-infect you. No, going to the beach won’t cure your infection. No, 5G towers didn’t cause the pandemic in the first place. The problem is, most folks who believe such non-science probably won’t listen to a Brit hurling expletives with his explanations, something John is fully aware of. So he's created a place where you can direct friends and relatives who might be skeptical about the "TRUE TRUE TRUTH" of COVID-19.[caption id="attachment_4943548" align="alignleft" width="960"] HBO[/caption]“What experts say is that the most effective way to approach someone is not by shaming them for believing something or overwhelming them with counter evidence,” Oliver explained from his home studio, “but to try and be empathetic. Meet them where they are and nudge them to think a bit more critically. So to that end, we've asked some people that they might be more willing to listen to, to help you start a conversation.”Because, of course, your parents or grandparents might be more accepting of the truth from say, oh, we don’t know, Alex Trebek. Or Catherine O’Hara. Or Billy Porter. Or the ageless Paul Rudd. Or how about a disrobing John Cena (who is “number three on your partner’s Free Pass list”)? Don’t take it from John Oliver. Take it from these folks.“I know that we are living in scary times,” Billy Porter says in a clip before Cena and O’Hara and the rest chime in with spliced soundbites, some informative, and others just complimentary. “Given the current state of things, you're searching for answers about the global health crisis. I think that's awesome. That curiosity? That's good. I'm curious too.”[video_embed id='1993086']RELATED: Cree artist beads beautiful mask with a message [/video_embed]Reminding us that we have to be careful because of all the lies that can easily spread on the internet (Paul Rudd admits he once thought he was dead because the hashtag #RIPPaulRudd was trending on “twatter”), the gaggle of celebs has a list of suggestions to make sure your info is coming from a trusted news source. Most importantly: check if it’s being corroborated by trustworthy news organizations and make sure to think critically about anything you read. “Y'all got brains! Use them!” Billy Porter hollers with a smile. “Use it like it's the first roll of toilet paper in a brand new pack: unsparingly and with gusto!”John Oliver has even created a website called The True True Truth for your conspiracy-prone friends and family and have the celebs can talk directly to them. Like many sites created by John Oliver for his show, it's showing an "internal server error" the morning after broadcast, likely due to high traffic from viewers, but the Last Week Tonight team is historically pretty good at getting things back up and running quickly. So the next time someone in your circle says something factually wrong about COVID-19, don’t waste your breath, let Alex Trebek do it for you.Watch new episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver weekly on Mondays on Crave.[video_embed id='1993091']BEFORE YOU GO: Why it's important to wear a face mask properly [/video_embed]