Transcription:
With the Oxford comma:
we invited the strippers, jfk, and stalin.
[A picture showing a cartoon image of 4 people. JFK, Stalin, and 2 strippers.]
Without the Oxford comma:
we invited the strippers, jfk and stalin.
[A picture showing a cartoon image of 2 people. JFK and Stalin, both dressed in the same stripper outfits as the strippers in the above image.]
I would like to evenly split $9,000 between strippers, JFK, and Stalin. -> Strippers get $3,000. JFK gets $3,000. Stalin gets $3,000.
I would like to evenly split $9,000 between strippers, JFK and Stalin. -> Strippers get $4,500. JFK and Stalin get $4,500.
First sentence, I agree, maybe. More likely, I’d say each of the 2 strippers get $2,250 JFK gets $2,250, Stalin gets $2,250. But either of those two interpretations works.
Second sentence I just completely disagree. Either you don’t use the Oxford comma, in which case this is the same as above, or the comma here is parenthetical, in which case JFK and Stalin each get $4,500. They are the strippers, so there’s no separate category for them.
To get the outcome you wanted in your second case (with the bare minimum sentence restructuring) I would say “I would like to evenly split $9,000 between the strippers and JFK & Stalin.” Ideally though, I’d use more words to be more clear.