John Oliver & Chechnya Leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, Spark Internet Feud Over Missing Cat

Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov‘s cat went missing, leaving him to ask his Instagram followers to help him find his cat, which inspired many jokes – including HBO’s Last Week Tonight‘s John Oliver.

Kadyrov posted a photo of him hold his cat on May 16 asking his 1.8 million Instagram followers to help him find his cat, who disappeared on May 6. The Chechnya leader wrote to his followers in Russian. He explains how he thought the cat would come back in a little while but has now begun to “seriously worry.”

Oliver caught wind of the autocratic leader’s plea and took a jab at Kadyrov during one of his segments Sunday on his hit show, Last Week Tonight. In the segment, Oliver makes fun of Kadyrov’s love for Russian President Vladimir Putin, t-shirts with Putin’s face on them, and animals. He then goes on to name some of the brutal accusations against the Chechnya leader, including kidnappings, torture and human rights abuses.

“Just imagine what he’s willing to put the Chechnya through for a cat. So my point is this: we need to find this man’s f—ing cat. We need to do it yesterday,” Oliver adamantly exclaims.

Then, Oliver launched a faux campaign called #FindKadyrovsCat, asking people to contact Kadyrov on Twitter or Instagram by writing, if people have seen Kadyrov’s cat, “I have seen your cat.” If people have not seen his cat, then write, “I have not seen your cat.” Oliver also asked if people see a cat that could be the Chechnya leader’s cat, to contact Kadyrov with a picture of the cat and the question, “Is this your cat?”

Oliver took his spoof campaign to his Twitter account and tweeted the Chechnya leader.

Many Last Week Tonight fans began to contact Kadyrov leaving multiple humorous comments and tweets. Kadyrov replied on Instagram with a Photoshopped picture of Oliver wearing a Putin t-shirt. The picture had a long caption attached to it, in English. In the caption, Kadyrov talks about his cat and how people have been saying they have seen his cat in different places all over the world, but none of them are his cat.

“Thanks to Putin, we have crushed terrorists among whom there were also citizens of the USA, and European citizens. The country directed by Obama under the guise of peacekeeping operations spark new wars and bloody internal conflicts, in which die millions of people. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria… That’s why there is nothing surprising that Oliver also got a wish to appear publicly in a T-shirt with an image of Putin, but not Obama,” said Kadyrov in his caption.

The Chechnya leader’s post only sparked more people to continue to comment whether they have or haven’t seen his cat.

Oliver has yet to respond to Kadyrov’s Instagram post.