John Oliver took a few jabs at HBO Max on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight — which, of course, airs on HBO.

The comments come two weeks after he criticized parent company Warner Bros.  Discovery on her decision to leave Batgirl.  Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that CEO David Zaslav opted to leave the project in order to write off taxes on the $90 million film.  Meanwhile, several other series and movies have also been pulled from the streamer by Warner Bros.  Discovery as part of its plan to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into one service.

On Sunday night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver referenced the write-off during a segment about former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is running for a state House seat in a special election.

Oliver quoted from an Aug. 16 New Yorker story: “Sarah knows how to work a crowd … but she’s Sarah, AE.”  He went on to say that “Sarah, Inc.”  sounds like the title of a sitcom starring Kat Dennings that has already quietly disappeared from HBO Max, before making funny tweaks to HBO’s famous tagline “It’s not TV.  It’s HBO.”  Said Oliver: “HBO Max.  It’s not a TV.  It’s a series of tax write-offs to appease Wall Street.”

Earlier in the segment, Oliver noted that Palin running for office gives him deja vu from 14 years ago.  “It’s like 2008 all over again: [Palin’s] running for office, the US went into a bear market, and Sex and the City is doing spinoffs that it frankly doesn’t have the material to support,” Oliver joked, showing the marketing poster for the first theatrical Sex and the City as well.  film and the recent HBO Max revival And Just Like That.  “Society is going backwards,” he added.

Two weeks ago, during a segment about unused COVID-19 vaccines, Oliver criticized Batgirl’s decision.  “We let the vaccine sit unused on a shelf in our inventory, like an expired Chobani or a $90 million movie on HBO Max.  By the way: Hello, new dad.  It looks like you are doing a very good job.  I have a vague feeling that you’re burning my net for the insurance money, but I’m sure it’ll all work out,” he said.

Oliver often criticized previous parent company AT&T when it owned HBO, also referring to it as “business daddy”.  He has also previously slammed And Just Like That for proceeding without original star Kim Cattrall.