Comedian John Oliver and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in spat over lost cat
26 May 2016
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Elise Morton
Comedian and TV presenter John Oliver has clashed with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, over Kadyrov’s appeal to find his lost cat.
The Head of the Chechen Republic appealed to his Instagram followers to help him find his missing cat last week, to which Oliver responded by mocking Kadyrov in his segment on HBO’s Last Week Tonight on Sunday.
During his segment, Oliver said Kadyrov, who is known for posting frequent videos of himself in the gym on Instagram, is “basically like a can of Monster energy drink come to life”, also mocking him for often wearing T-shirts bearing the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Subsequent to the show, Oliver posted a photograph on his Twitter account of himself holding a cat, asking Kadyrov whether it was his.
.@RKadyrov Is this your cat? pic.twitter.com/2UacV3km7J
— John Oliver (@iamjohnoliver) May 23, 2016
Kadyrov responded with an Instagram posting depicting Oliver wearing a pro-Putin t-shirt, together with the inscription, “I’m tired of jokes. I want to care for cats in Chechnya. By the way, Putin is our leader!”.
The cat, which Kadyrov says resembles a miniature tiger cub, went missing ten days previous to his original post.
“We have completely lost our cat. He looked like a little tiger cub. Visitors have always said that he is very, very similar to a tiger cub. Ten days ago, he disappeared. We all thought that he would reappear, since he is very attached to the children and loves to play with them and go out with them in the yard. But now we have begun to seriously worry. Perhaps he is with someone nearby. That person may not know how to find the owners. I am sure that no one needs someone else’s cat. Therefore, we would be grateful for any information. Thanks in advance,” read his post on Instagram. Although the Instagram post got over 30,000 likes and hundreds of comments, no lead has yet been found regarding the cat’s whereabout, although Kadyrov stated in a later posting that he believed the cat had simply left to find a mate and would soon return.
