HBO’s John Oliver is shocked by the city of Stonecrest’s stunt

Stonecrest got a mention on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on Sunday, thanks to a recent idea from the city.

Oliver's episode was about economic development incentives local governments give to woo business. Naturally, the contest to claim Amazon's second headquarters came up, as well as Stonecrest's idea to take a small part of the city and rename it "Amazon."

“They would create a new town and name it Amazon,” Oliver said on the show in disbelief. “To compete, I’m surprised Omaha, Nebraska, didn’t offer to let Jeff Bezos kill any three people he likes.”

(Video below.)

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But Stonecrest was serious about the idea.

The City Council voted to de-annex 345 acres of land if the e-commerce giant picks the area for what the company calls HQ2, a corporate hub where Amazon says it will one day house 50,000 jobs.

“There are several major U.S. cities that want Amazon, but none has the branding opportunity we are now offering this visionary company,” Mayor Jason Lary said after the vote. “How could you not want your 21st century headquarters to be located in a city named Amazon?”

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