UPDATED with Dean Cain‘s response: Last Week Tonight‘s John Oliver piled on Dean Cain during his telecast after the actor announced earlier this week he would be joining ICE.
“You know, there’s an old saying in Hollywood: ‘If all you can get is Dean Cain, you are f—ed,'” Oliver said during the program, which largely covered immigration enforcement and president Donald Trump‘s mass deportation promise.
“Now, I’m not saying that ICE isn’t finding people,” he continued. “I’m just saying, when you are reduced to pinning a badge on the 59-year-old star of The Dog Who Saved Christmas, The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation, The Dog Who Saved the Holidays, The Dog Who Saved Halloween, The Dog Who Saved Easter and The Dog Who Saved Summer, maybe you are in trouble. Although, on the plus side, no need for that guy to wear a mask because the chances of anyone recognizing him are f—ing zero.”
He added later, “And I recognize that in some cases, you may be unable to help yourself from saying: ‘Didn’t you use to be Superman? I thought you died. I can’t believe I’m meeting a filmmaker.'”
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The late-night host was the latest to dunk on Cain, after actor John Leguizamo called him a “loser” and has-been ahead of the weekend.
In a response posted to X an hour after Oliver’s broadcast had concluded, Cain wrote: “He stole that mask joke from the internet — and he also laughed hysterically when Trump said he was going to run for President. Case closed. (and those movies were sweet, by the way!)”
Earlier in the night, while citing a report from The Atlantic that ICE agents are being redirected away from human trafficking, drug and child exploitation cases to handle low-level deportations of undocumented immigrants, Oliver quipped, “For a guy who pandered so heavily to people convinced pedophiles, sex offenders and traffickers had infiltrated our government, Trump’s sure making the government a lot friendlier to them: Ghislaine Maxwell’s in a nicer cell now, Lawrence Taylor’s advising on kids’ physical fitness. F— it, at this point, if he’s willing to wear a MAGA hat, I don’t see why Roman Polanski can’t come back.”
Elsewhere, Oliver addressed official government social media pages endorsing the aggressive deportation tactics, including one which depicted the Border Patrol’s Premier Sector as Darth Vader, among the most infamous fictional villains.
When the show reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for media comment, the agency said in response: “Not to spoil the plot, but as any Star Wars fan knows, Darth Vader is also Anakin Skywalker. I don’t think the DHS needs to regale the American public on the heroism of Skywalker, they know,” which got loud laughs from the audience. Oliver called the statement “just an incredible, deeply sh—y response” and joked he would be curious to hear the organization’s misreading of the MCU’s Big Bad Thanos.
Dean Cain. Sad sad man. I can outrun Dean. Maybe he’s just going to be driving the vehicle and not out chasing hard working citizens? Because who is he catching honestly?
Anonymous…things unspoken, slip by unnoticed.
Only because he claims he’s going to join ICE. Most people couldn’t even tell you the last movie or TV show they actually saw him in.
Dean who? Paula Deen?
Best part is that Dean is fuming mad about this over on Twitter!