CANNES — “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus was more popular than the president at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, according to HBO boss Richard Plepler.
“I assure you she was a bigger star than the president. People were gathering around our table, not the head table,” said Plepler, who was speaking on a panel about political satire at the Cannes Lions ad festival.
The session, hosted by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, showed a clip in which Louis-Dreyfus’ character, President Selina Meyer, is advised not to use the word “gun” as the cameras follow her around a gun show.
Plepler added that the US ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun, is surprised that the most common question he’s asked relates to America’s fascination with guns and not Disney.
“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver’s comedy rants on net neutrality and on FIFA’s corruption scandal, which each drew between 10 million and 11 million views on YouTube, were also shown during the session.
“It’s a magnificent demonstration of agit-prop,” said Amanpour, adding that political calls to action in America have been left to satirists.
Political discourse has become so chaotic and dysfunctional that it’s no wonder the press corps and comedians “have such fun,” added Plepler.