John Oliver, the comedian known for tackling complex issues in extended-length segments on his HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver announced Sunday that his show bought all the kitchen equipment and furniture from the now-closed Miron Lane Red Lobster restaurant at auction.
Oliver used the contents of the Town of Ulster restaurant to create a Red Lobster look-a-like setting with the purchased items, offering only biscuits. “What we do want to do is give people the single item that they want most from Red Lobster and that is the biscuits,” Oliver said. “For just one dollar, you can get one biscuit and that it is it,” he added.
Many locals laughed along at the segment, which was directed toward exposing the economic decline caused by private equity firms that acquire and cannibalize major franchises. Others were not as amused.
Oliver referred to the store as being in Kingston, which reportedly drew a wry comment from Ulster Town Supervisor James Quigley’s office, stating, “If he bought everything from the Kingston location, he has nothing, because the Red Lobster is in the Town of Ulster.”
Deising’s Bakery and Restaurant owner Eric Deising also fired some good-natured shots in the news media, explaining, “I’m one of the vultures who was circling around Red Lobster,” and that he was interested in acquiring some of the restaurant equipment in the winner-take-all Red Lobster auction. After Oliver won, he had to concede, “John – He’s just beating me all over the place. Congratulations on your new store.”
The plot thickened when Deising’s comments were used in a News 12 Westchester article which ran with the erroneous title, “Kingston business owner picks fight with HBO’s John Oliver after host buys shuttered Red Lobster”.
Deising fired back against the clickbait headline on Facebook, writing, “Some nerve to frame a story as picking a fight? All we did was leave a note on the door asking about purchasing some equipment. The next day a reporter showed up and asked about the equipment and turned the story into ‘picking a fight’. Fake news.”
Others on Facebook accused of the HBO show of acting in poor taste, as dozens of employees lost their jobs with no notice.
The Red Lobster segment from last Sunday’s show is not currently available for free in the US, but can be found on HBO Max and other major streaming sites.
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