Last Week Tonight host John Oliver put weak lawmakers who refuse to protect American farmers in his crosshairs. The subject, this time, wasn’t the deplorable conditions that chickens are put through in their short lives. Instead, Oliver chose to focus on the demands placed on the farmers themselves, the profits that are stolen from the farmers by the major distributor corporations, and the lack of legal recourse available to the farmers.
Farmers that work for the big four poultry corporations: Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson Farms and Perdue, regularly find themselves working at or below the poverty line. Responding to that issue, a spokeperson form the National Chicken Council, which represents major corporations, said, “Which poverty line are you referring to? Is that the national poverty line? Is that a state poverty line? The poverty line in Mississippi and Alabama is different than it is in New York City.”
To which Oliver answered:
What the f*ck are you talking about? It doesn’t matter. The poverty line is like the age of consent: if you find yourself parsing exactly where it is, you’ve probably already dont something very, very wrong.
