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It was Olympic night. Sure, The refugee crisis in Syria had worsened. Terrorist attacks were continuing. ISIS hadn't let up on violence. Brazil has experienced a massive recession, protests in the streets, and a Zika outbreak that is making citizens rethink having children.

But last Friday, in John Oliver's words, "NBC urged us to forget about all that and focus on the opening ceremony". To embed that fact in viewers' minds, an NBC reporter began a broadcast by saying, "The Karaokas, as they call themselves – they are ready, at least for tonight, to put the headlines aside, hit the reset button and throw one massive party."

While agreeing that the opening ceremony made for great spectacle, Oliver pointed out the hilarity of the parade where athletes from all over the world come together while "Today Show anchors point out everything that is wrong with their country". With the athletes from Turkey, it is mentioned that "it will be difficult for them to be here because of the coup". When athletes from Sudan march past, it is pointed out that it is a "troubled nation". And when the president of a country, who is suspended on corruption charges, says that not being allowed to attend the opening ceremony of the games she worked on makes her the "Cinderalla of the story", how can she not be made fun of?

Cut to IOC President Thomas Bach saying, "In this Olympic world, there is one universal law for everybody. In this Olympic world, we are all equal."

But that's not true. Why? According to Oliver, if it were, there would be no reason to have the Olympics. "The whole reason we do this is to find out who is better than everyone else so that we can make them stand higher than other people who are not as good as them."