Comments At FCC Gums-Up After HBO Show

John Oliver

When the Federal Communications Commission released its proposed Net Neutrality regulations, Chairman Tom Wheeler said the founding fathers were likely looking down on the public outcry over the draft rules and smiling.

They must be laughing hysterically now, according to CNet.

The FCC's online public-comment system stumbled under heavy traffic Monday after comedian John Oliver capped a 13-minute segment about Net neutrality -- the concept that all Internet content should be delivered without preference or discrimination -- with a rallying cry to the Internet's trolls to visit the FCC's website and "focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction."

We’ve been experiencing technical difficulties with our comment system due to heavy traffic. We’re working to resolve these issues quickly.
— The FCC (@FCC) June 2, 2014

The clip, from Oliver's HBO program "Last Week Tonight" on Sunday, was shared widely on social networks like Twitter, with the YouTube clip's view count approaching the 700,000 mark. Oliver's program itself was watched by 1 million viewers during its first airing, according to TV by the Numbers, a website that reports television ratings from Nielsen.