John Oliver has some thoughts about Chuck Peruto’s Philly DA campaign video

As a longtime defense attorney and first-time political candidate, Chuck Peruto knows a thing or two about getting attention. That’s made for a rocky May for the Republican nominee for Philadelphia district attorney.

John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” on Sunday used a video on Peruto’s campaign website to cast him as an example of “extreme cartoonishness” being “a selling point” for some candidates following former President Donald Trump. Oliver zeroed in on Peruto’s claim that he “understands Black people just about as well as a Black person” because he grew up in West Philly.

“The whole video is 35 minutes long and shot in a single take with real ‘no one in my family wants to listen to me anymore so they showed me how to use a webcam’ energy,” Oliver said.

Andrew Giuliani, a former pro golfer, Trump staffer, and Rudy Giuliani’s son, took some lumps, too, for his New York gubernatorial bid. As Oliver noted, the younger Giuliani was tossed off the Duke University golf team due to his behavior.

“The point is, yes, these people look like clowns. They are clowns,” Oliver concluded. “But it’s important to remember that clowns, while funny are also f—ing terrifying.”

Peruto tells Clout he likes Oliver, but doesn’t think the comedian’s staff did enough research.

“My gripe is, if you take anybody’s website and use few phrases out of context, you can make anyone look like Attila The Hun,” Peruto said.

Peruto, a former Democrat who supported District Attorney Larry Krasner four years ago but now disagrees with what he sees as lenient plea deals in gun gases, ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Less than 10% of the city’s Republicans came out to vote in that election.

Krasner defeated former prosecutor Carlos Vega with 67% of the Democratic votes.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.