On Tuesday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced he's resigning in the midst of allegations against the international soccer organization for corruption and bribery — meeting John Oliver's top demand on Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight for holding FIFA accountable after the US Department of Justice announced it will prosecute soccer officials.
"The problem is all the arrests in the world are going to change nothing as long as Blatter is still there," Oliver had said. "To truly kill a snake, you must cut off its head — or, in this case, its asshole."
The Justice Department last Wednesday announced it's prosecuting FIFA officials for allegedly taking more than $150 million in bribes to secure broadcast rights. The Justice Department is also investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which are set to take place in Russia and Qatar, for any foul play.
Earlier in the segment, Oliver had praised US officials for going after FIFA.
"I don't know what I'm more surprised by — that FIFA officials were actually arrested, or that America was behind it," Oliver said. "It took the country that cares the least about football to bring down the people who have been ruining it. That's like finding out that Kesha arrested a group of bankers involved in commodities fraud."
Oliver mocked how FIFA officials were arrested — they were escorted to cars while covered in white hotel sheets to shield them from cameras. "That is perfect," Oliver said. "Hotel sheets are very much like FIFA officials: they really should be clean, but they're actually unspeakably filthy, and deep down everybody knows that."
