John Oliver has confirmed that he was the anonymous bidder for Russell Crowe's leather jockstrap from "Cindrella Man" at the actor's "divorce auction" and actually paid USD 7,000 for it.
Not just the jockstrap, Oliver's show "Last Week Tonight" had also purchased several other items from the auction that Crowe held to celebrate the end of his marriage.
Oliver revealed that he had a better home for the bizarre piece of movie memorabilia. He was planning to give it to one of the last Blockbuster stores in Alaska as video shops are facing extinction in the era of Internet streaming.
The comedian acknowledged it was "a big price to pay just to find out what Russell Crowe's b***s smelled like in 2005". He revealed that the show had also dropped some serious money for "a bunch of pointless Russell Crowe memorabilia".
He also bought the set chairs used by Crowe and Denzel Washington on "American Gangster", the vest Crowe wore in "Les Miserables", the hood he wore in "Robin Hood" and a satin robe and shorts from "Cinderella Man".
"There has been some speculation out there that we were the ones who bought that jockstrap - and I will admit it does sound like something that we would do. You know, buy Russell Crowe's jockstrap and send it to one of the last remaining Blockbusters in Alaska. Even that sentence is absolutely incredible to say out loud.
"The bad news is, we didn't do it. I'm sorry," he said, before taking a dramatic pause to deliver the punchline -- "We did though. We did. We absolutely did."
He soon produced the evidence, a display case containing the jockstrap on a dummy, and quoted Crowe's famous line from "Gladiator": "Are you not entertained?"
Oliver said the memorabilia would be available to Alaska's last Blockbuster if they got in touch with HBO.
"If only there were a fun, movie-themed way for them to draw people in," he said.
The manager of the Blockbuster at Anchorage, Alaska, Kevin Deymude, told The Hollywood Reporter that the memorabilia would be great for the business.
"I had no idea whatsoever he was going to do that. We would be very honoured to showcase that collection. People have been calling and coming in, wanting to know when it will all be here If we do get it, it could be very big for business," Deymude said.
The auction, held in Sydney and titled 'Art of Divorce', took place on Crowe's 54th birthday which coincided with his erstwhile wedding anniversary with former wife actor Danielle Spencer and earned him USD 3.7 million.
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