SLAPP Suits

"SLAPP Suits" is a segment of the HBO news satire television series "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" focused on strategic lawsuits against public participation. It first aired on November 10, 2019, as part of the twenty-ninth episode of the series's sixth season. During the twenty-six-minute segment, comedian John Oliver discussed the outcome of a lawsuit against him from mining businessman Robert E. "Bob" Murray, as well as the damaging effects of similar lawsuits. Oliver then ended the segment with a musical number entitled "Eat Shit, Bob!" in honor of winning his lawsuit, which received generally positive feedback.
Background.
Coal.
On June 18, 2017, John Oliver aired a segment on his show, entitled "Coal". The segment focused on practices in the coal mining industry. Oliver began the piece by showing Donald Trump's affinity for the coal industry, including shots of him during the 2016 campaign in a coal miner's hat and delivering a speech in which he told the miners to prepare to work their "asses off" when he became President. Oliver then introduced Bob Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy, in clips from Fox News and Fox Business, where he repeatedly criticizes President Barack Obama for his perceived incompetence and aggression towards those in the coal industry. 
Oliver explained that when Murray Energy was contacted about the piece, they received a letter informing them that they should cease and desist from "any efforts to [...] injure Mr. Murray," and that Murray has sued people before. Oliver ignored this letter and proceeded to call Murray a "geriatric Dr. Evil" who was "on the same side as black lung" and talk about other errors in Murray's mining practices, focusing particularly on the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse that killed 9 people. While Murray argued that it was the fault of an earthquake, the federal government concluded that it was the fault of unsafe mining practices, and fined Murray Energy , the highest amount possible for a safety violation. When Murray introduced a bonus program for coal miners, they were told they could return their checks if they felt the program incentivized unsafe practices. Two miners did, returning checks for small amounts with the words "KISS MY ASS BOB" and "Eat Shit Bob" written on them. Murray also shared an anecdote that he received the idea to start a coal mining corporation from a talking squirrel. Drawing on these two stories, Oliver ended the episode by introducing a squirrel mascot known as "Mr. Nutterbutter" (played by Noel MacNeal) who taunted Bob Murray by holding up an oversized check for "three acorns and eighteen cents" made out to "Eat Shit, Bob!"
Lawsuit.
On June 22, 2017, Marshall County Coal Company and other companies chaired by Bob Murray announced that they had filed a lawsuit against John Oliver, HBO, and others associated with Oliver in a West Virginia Circuit Court, on charges relating to defamation. The complaint alleged that Oliver carried out a "meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character and reputation of Mr. Robert E. Murray and his companies". The plaintiffs criticized Oliver's coverage of the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse, reiterating their claim that the primary collapse was caused by an earthquake, rather than unsafe mining practices on the part of Murray Energy and that Oliver's statements were therefore false and defamatory due to his wide audience. The plaintiffs characterized parts of Oliver's segment as an "obvious retaliation to this humanitarian request" to cease and desist from talking about Murray. Murray sought monetary damages, as well as a gag order on broadcasting the segment and preventing it from airing online. 
An HBO spokesperson expressed confidence in "Last Week Tonight", and said that they did not believe that "anything in the show this week violated Mr. Murray’s or Murray Energy’s rights." 
On February 24, 2018, the case was dismissed, with the judge agreeing with HBO's arguments that Murray had failed to state a valid claim. Murray appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, but all five justices on that court were impeached for charges relating to corruption, overspending, and lack of oversight. The case was dropped a short while later. Oliver later remarked that this was a relief, as he had joked on his show a few years prior that the Chief Justice on the court, Allen Loughry, referred to his penis as "The Gavel."
Amicus curiae.
The ACLU chapter in West Virginia filed an amicus brief on behalf of HBO, which was noted for its snarky, humorous tone, unusual in a legal document. The brief featured section headings such as "You Can’t Sue People for Being Mean to You, Bob" and "A Brief History of Plaintiffs’ Attempts to Chill Speech by Abusing the Legal System." The paper argued that Oliver's segment did not air any speech that violated Murray's rights, as Oliver's statements were protected by the First Amendment as either satirical humor or a matter of fact, depending on the statement. The brief claimed Murray was using the court as a vehicle to suppress free speech, arguing that this lawsuit "threaten[s] the fundamental right of the media to criticize public figures and speak candidly on matters of public concern." The argument was supplemented by a list of Murray's other lawsuits, with the ACLU listing lawsuits dismissed by the courts against HuffPost, a newspaper in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, as well as Bloomberg News and individual activists, commenting that "It appears that Bob Murray’s favorite hobby is suing and/or threatening to sue people for making political statements he disagrees with."
Due to the media coverage of the brief, Murray Energy filed a response, asking the court to disregard it on the basis that the ACLU did not fully disclose a conflict of interest with Oliver's show. The response criticized the tone of the ACLU's submission, saying that it alone should serve as a disqualifying factor in the court's consideration of the ACLU's ability to remain impartial as an observer in the lawsuit. The response also alleged a financial connection, in that on a segment of "Last Week Tonight" entitled "President-Elect Trump", aired 5 days after the 2016 United States presidential election, Oliver encouraged viewers to donate to causes perceived as left-leaning such as Planned Parenthood, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Trevor Project, the Center for Reproductive Rights, or the International Refugee Assistance Project. Murray Energy argued that this encouragement caused an "immediate surge of millions of dollars in donations to the ACLU," although Reuters argued that Murray Energy did not provide suitable evidence for this claim, in that they provided hyperlinks to three articles that did not explicitly support this argument, instead attributing the rise in donations to the result of the Presidential election in general.
Episode.
On November 10, 2019, John Oliver aired a segment on his show, entitled "SLAPP Suits". Oliver began by summarizing the legal proceedings so far, including a clip in which Bob Murray promoted his lawsuit on Fox Business. He also noted that despite winning the case, his libel insurance tripled and that his show paid in attorney's fees. Oliver then argued that Bob Murray never intended to win his case, and instead attempted to scare HBO and him into silence, leading into the main point of the segment—SLAPP Suits. SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation, which are lawsuits designed to threaten targets into not criticizing the plaintiff with the promise of high attorneys' fees and possible payment of damages. Oliver pointed out that Murray has filed at least nine lawsuits against news outlets and journalists who have published negative content about him including the "Huffington Post", who called him an "extremist coal baron" and "The New York Times". Oliver argued that Murray has also sued those who may not be fortunate enough to be backed by a large company like HBO and have libel insurance, and suggested that this reputation for litigiousness may have succeeded in its goal of silencing criticism. In particular, Oliver argued that Murray's habits led to the relative silence in the press on two sexual harassment lawsuits against Murray, one of which involved Murray asking a female employee to get on her hands and knees and find a kidney stone that Murray had passed and lost. 
To conclude the section discussing Murray's SLAPP lawsuits, Oliver acknowledged that despite the segment being checked by HBO's lawyers (who he joked were "getting very tired of this"), the episode would likely lead to another lawsuit and that he would stand behind his works if it were to happen. In the dismissal of Oliver's case, Judge Jeffery D. Cramer noted that "loose, figurative language," has long been classified as protected speech under the First Amendment, which was cited by Oliver as a basis to create a musical number to end the episode.
Musical number.
Drawing the title of "Eat Shit, Bob" from the miner's returned check, Oliver staged a five-minute musical number, initially set in his studio. There, he began singing slowly that "even though he'll threaten legal Armageddon, we have just one tiny thing to say..." and then extended his middle finger and exclaimed "Bob Murray can go fuck himself today!" He then introduced the "Suck My Balls, Bob" dancers, who moved the setting to Times Square as they recounted fictional anecdotes of Murray committing outlandish and horrifying acts, joking that he perpetrated the 1994 Cobo Arena attack on Nancy Kerrigan, shot puppies into outer space, supplied drugs to Bill Cosby, murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and starting World War I, and was the unidentified Zodiac Killer. Oliver centered parts of the song on his First Amendment rationale, saying that "we made up these anecdotes, they're silly and insane" and "If we discuss Bob Murray in a way no reasonable person could construe as factual, we can say whatever the fuck we like!" Mr. Nutterbutter made a reappearance with a barbershop quartet in squirrel costumes, who alleged that Bob Murray practiced bestiality with squirrels. Brian d'Arcy James also made an appearance as HBO's legal counsel, initially telling the ensemble to stop and then segueing into his own segment where he recounted Bob Murray forcing tourists at the New York City M&M's Store to watch as he "crammed them (M&M's) up his anal hole." The number was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
Reaction.
An editorial from the "Charleston Gazette-Mail" said that there was "a lesson in John Oliver roasting Bob Murray" in that it leads to the question of why states like West Virginia have relaxed anti-SLAPP laws. 
Reviews of the musical number were generally positive. "The A.V. Club" said that the episode was a demonstration in "why rich assholes really shouldn’t sue John Oliver," and referred to the musical number as "glorious" and "over-the-top". "Slate" commented that just because Oliver gave an "impassioned speech standing up for all the small outlets and independent activists bullied into silence by SLAPP lawsuits," that does not mean John Oliver "has matured even a little bit".
"The Mary Sue" commented that Bob Murray's SLAPP suits create a "culture of fear in which Murray ends up able to succeed in his goal of stifling any criticism of him and his industrial operations," but points out that Murray "may have picked too big a fish" in John Oliver, saying that "Of course, this is John Oliver we’re talking about and 'culture of fear' is basically his Bat-Signal."