John Oliver cuts into the meatpacking industry, shows how it mistreats its human workers
John Oliver began Sunday's main story on Last Week Tonight, about meatpacking plants, with a real commercial featuring a homicidal guinea pig. "And if you're thinking, 'Okay, I know where this is going: This is going to be a grim story about the conditions animals face in factory farms,' you're actually wrong," he said. "Those conditions are horrific, but they do get talked about a lot. This story is going to be about the grim conditions humans are facing working in meatpacking facilities."
"When you take all of this together — the diapers, the endless trips to the nurse's station, the injuries, and the deaths — you frankly only need to take a peek inside this industry currently operations to draw a pretty simple conclusion," Oliver concludes: Disgusting. Watch below for plenty of revolting and disturbing details, some colorful stories about Texas chicken baron Bo Pilgrim, that guinea pig ad, and liberal use of NSFW language. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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