John Oliver Announces Contest To Put 'Riffraff' In Premium Yankees Seats

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- John Oliver, host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight," took a swing at the Yankees, whom he called "the biggest elitist a--holes."

During a segment on his show that aired Sunday night, Oliver blasted the franchise over comments that Lonn Trost, the Yankees' chief operating officer, made to WFAN in February when he was trying to explain the team's new policy prohibiting print-at-home tickets -- which some critics viewed as a move to limit sales on third-party websites that allow some fans to score below-face-value tickets.

MORE: Keidel: New Ticket Policy Widens Divide Between Yankees, Everyday Fans

"The problem below market at a certain point is that if you buy a ticket in a very premium location and pay a substantial amount of money," Trost told WFAN's Boomer & Carton on Feb. 18. "It's not that we don't want that fan to sell it, but that fan is sitting there having paid a substantial amount of money for a ticket and (another) fan picks it up for a buck and a half and sits there, and it's frustrating to the purchaser of the full amount.

"And quite frankly, the fan may be someone who has never sat in a premium location. So that's a frustration to our existing fan base."

Oliver responded: "Wow! He's saying rich people couldn't bear to sit next to people who aren't as rich, which would be offensive if you were talking about the opera, much less a sports whose primary fashion statement is the goatee."

MORE: Palladino: Yankees Can Keep Their Premium Seats — We'll Sit Upstairs

Oliver then announced the show had purchased six premium seats behind home plate -- two each for the first three games of this season -- and was having a contest.

"There will be riffraff in those seats," Oliver said. " ... We will sell them to you for just 25 cents apiece on one condition: You must dress like you have never sat in a premium location before."

He asked contestants to tweet a photo of what they would wear to the game with the hashtag "#IHaveNeverSatInAPremiumLocation."

Needless to say, the entries on Twitter on Monday were interesting.

In response to the piece, Yankees president Randy Levine released a statement Monday saying: "Everyone is welcome at Yankee Stadium.  And I thank John Oliver for buying Yankees tickets."

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• New York Yankees
• John Oliver