John Oliver Slams Florida Over George Zimmerman Verdict [Video]

The Daily Show returned from a brief hiatus Monday, and interim host John Oliver was in such disbelief that George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin that he could barely articulate his disgust. But what he could articulate was his utter hatred for the state of Florida.

“How does 2013 Florida have a law that seems cut and pasted from 1881 Tombstone,” he asked. “Because, let’s be clear here, according to current Florida law, you can get a gun, follow an unarmed minor, call the police, have them explicitly tell you to stop following them, then choose to ignore that, keep following the minor, get into a confrontation with them, and if at any point during that process you get scared, you can shoot the minor to death and the state of Florida will say, ‘Well, look, you did what you could.'”

Oliver then suggested that it might be time for “The Sunshine State” to change its motto to “The Worst State.” He then went on to ask if there was anything that could be learned from the case, and cut to a clip of Zimmerman defense attorney Mark O’Mara saying that, if Martin had been white and Zimmerman black, “he never would have been charged with this crime.”

Oliver responded, “Yeah, I suppose that the one thing our justice system is notorious for is how lenient it is toward black people.” He then questioned what would be done, and if the Stand Your Ground law would be abolished following the outrage of the verdict.

“OK Florida, just because you’re shaped like some combination of a gun and a d**k doesn’t mean you have to act that way,” Oliver said. He then apologized for his “emotional response” and said that Florida does have very strong defense laws and said they are applied vigorously across the board before cutting to a clip about Marissa Alexander, a domestic violence victim who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into the air to scare her abusive husband.

“Has it ever occurred to anyone when visiting Orlando that when Mickey Mouse is waving at you,” Oliver asked, “what he’s actually trying to say is, ‘Please, someone get me the f*** out of here, these people are f***ing crazy.”

What do you think of John Oliver’s reaction toward Florida over the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict?