John Oliver delays New Zealand’s vote for Bird of the Century with campaign for the puteketeke – the puking mullet bird

Comedian John Oliver’s campaign for the puteketeke, delayed results for New Zealand’s bird of the year, as vote checkers have been overwhelmed by ballots

Oliver discovered a loophole in the rules, which allowed anybody with a valid email address to cast a vote in this year’s contest named Bird of the Century

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Vote count for New Zealand’s Bird of the Century has been delayed by comedian John Oliver’s global campaign for his favoured bird, the pūteketeke. Photo: Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society via AP

Published: 4:00pm, 14 Nov 2023Updated: 4:30pm, 14 Nov 2023

Vote checkers in New Zealand have been so overwhelmed by foreign interference that they’ve been forced to delay announcing a winner.

The contest is to choose the nation’s favourite bird, and the interference is from comedian John Oliver.

Usually billed Bird of the Year, the annual event by conservation group Forest and Bird is held to raise awareness about the plight of the nation’s native birds, some of which have been driven to extinction. This year, the contest was named Bird of the Century to mark the group’s centennial.

Oliver discovered a loophole in the rules, which allowed anybody with a valid email address to cast a vote. So he went all-out in a humorous campaign for his favoured bird, the pūteketeke, a water bird, on his HBO show Last Week Tonight.

After all, this is what democracy is all about. America interfering in foreign elections

John Oliver, comedian

Oliver had a billboard erected for “The Lord of the Wings” in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. He also put up billboards in Paris, Tokyo, London, and Mumbai. He had a plane with a banner fly over Ipanema Beach in Brazil. And he wore an oversized bird costume on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show.