WATCH: John Oliver hates everything about the Miss America Pageant

The Miss America Pageant brought its sideshow of beautiful people back to Atlantic City last week, with hopes that its presence would help reinvigorate the city's ailing economy and clean up its increasingly negative image. Unfortunately, though, as a bizarre parade of voyeurism in 2014, the pageant seems only to have confused everyone — including John Oliver.

Oliver took on the Miss America Organization on last night's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, summing up his incredulousness up in one succinct point: "How the f--- is this still happening?" Most of that outrage, of course, comes from the fact that the Miss America parent company has been overstating its purported $45 million in philanthropic donations — by about $44.5 million.

NJ.com breaks down the totals:

Yet Oliver — who has in the past incited calls to action that have, among other outcomes, crashed the FCC website — said "Last Week Tonight" found instances of the organization counting potential scholarships in its total. So in some cases, none of the specific scholarships cited were actually awarded to pageant contestants at all… 

The ultimate finding of the show's research: "Style, service, scholarship and success" (that is the pageant's tagline) doesn't amount to $45 million. The national pageant's total cash scholarships in 2012: $482,000. And the state competitions? The show looked at tax forms from 33 state pageants whose contestants go on to compete at Miss America.

However, Oliver also notes that though the scholarship total may be inflated, the Miss America Organization actually still does raise more money for women's scholarships than most other scholarship programs for women. Still, though, those scholarships are not open to all women — just those that participate in the pageant.

"Which of course makes sense," Oliver said. "Miss America is supposed to be a role model for children. How can she be that if she's got a child in tow who's constantly looking up to her?"

UPDATE: The Miss America Organization has issued the following statement regarding Oliver's lampooning of their philanthropic efforts:

"John Oliver reaffirmed that the Miss America Organization (MAO) is the largest scholarship organization for women when he stated the number of scholarship dollars claimed '…is more than any other women-only scholarship we could find.'

We highlight the impressive, generous $45 million in scholarships made available in an effort to honor every one of our academic partners nationwide who make available cash and in-kind financial opportunities to the MAO and young women who participate in the program. Each year, more than 8,000 young women compete for scholarships through the volunteer, grassroots-driven Miss America pageant system in more than 950 local, state, and national competitions. These scholarships are awarded not just to winners of each pageant but to runners-up and participants.

As with any scholarship, the full amount awarded may not always be used as recipients' plans change or evolve. The Miss America Organization works every day to administer these scholarships to young women across the country and encourages our participants to utilize these scholarships provided by colleges and universities nationally who partner to fund education. 

The Miss America Organization is dedicated to improving the opportunities available to our program participants and remaining at the forefront of providing opportunities to women."

[NJ.com]