John Oliver comes after Mike Pence with surprise children's book about gay bunny

John Oliver trolled Vice President Mike Pence during Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight by announcing that his show had written and released a children’s book about Pence’s pet bunny rabbit one day before a Pence-sanctioned book about the rabbit was scheduled to arrive in stores.

In contrast to what Oliver deemed Pence’s “extreme positions,” “terrifying” rhetoric, and “hostility to LGBT rights,” Oliver’s book, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, focuses on the title rabbit falling in love with and later marrying another male rabbit. “With its message of tolerance and advocacy, this children’s picture book beautifully explores issues of marriage equality and democracy,” said Chronicle Books in a statement released late Sunday. Full proceeds from sales of Oliver’s book, written by “Marlon Bundo” with Last Week Tonight writer Jill Twiss and illustrated by EG Keller, will go to The Trevor Project and AIDS United. More information can be found at the book’s website, another dig at the Pence family: http://betterbundobook.com/

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo scooped the Pence family’s own take on their pet rabbit. Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President, a picture book written by Pence’s daughter Charlotte and illustrated by his wife, Karen, is out now.

“Now, there are a few small differences between the two books,” said Oliver on Sunday. “You’ll notice right away that our rabbit has a bow tie, so there’s that. Also, our story is about Marlon Bundo falling in love with another boy rabbit, because our Marlon Bundo is gay — just like the real Marlon Bundo.” An audio version of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo features the voice of Jim Parsons as Marlon with special guests Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, John Lithgow, Jack McBrayer, and RuPaul.

By Monday morning, Marlon Bundo was No. 1 onAmazon’s best-sellers list.

Pence has not responded to Oliver’s Sunday night segment — which in addition to revealing the Last Week Tonight children’s book also detailed Pence’s history of discriminatory stances, including an opposition to both same-sex marriage and gays in the military. But Oliver is pretty sure the vice president won’t love the book competition nor the fact that the proceeds support two LGBT-friendly charities. “Those are two great reasons to buy this book,” Oliver said of the organizations. “Another is that selling more books than Pence will probably really piss him off.”