Comedian Hasan Minhaj released a 21-minute video on Thursday in which he referenced a New Yorker article chronicling fabricated personal experiences recounted in his stand-up specials and apologized to those who who felt “cheated”.
Minhaj, whose politically-minded Netflix show “Patriot Act” ran from 2018 to 2020, released the video — which he called a “deep dive into my own scandal” — nearly six weeks after the magazine published his article. In it, reporter Clare Malone analyzed the details of his biographical comedy about growing up as a Muslim American and Asian American.
“I hesitated for a while before responding because, like you, I was paralyzed by the news from the Middle East and processing all the criticism that was coming my way,” Minhaj said in the video. “And I just want to say to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my appearance: I’m sorry. I have made artistic choices to express myself and highlight larger issues affecting me and my community, and I feel terrible that I am letting people down.”
But Minhaj said the article made him feel like he was a “psycho” and he defended the fictionalization of parts of his stand-up anecdotes to highlight the truths about racism and threats he has experienced.
One of the examined anecdotes he told in a 2017 stand-up special included a heartbreaking story from his high school prom. On the night of the dance, he said in the special, his date’s mother told him on her doorstep that she didn’t want the extended family “in Nebraska” to see photos of her white daughter next to him.
The New Yorker reported that Minhaj’s so-called date rejected him days before prom.
Minhaj, who spoke to Malone for her article, admitted in his video that there was no doorstep encounter like he described, but claimed that the girl’s mother “really said” that a few days before the prom. have.
“I created the front door scene to immerse the audience in the feeling of that moment,” he said. Minhaj claimed that the magazine did not properly consider email correspondence between him and the girl, which, he said, “showed that my race was a factor in my rejection at prom.”
In a statement released on X, formerly known as Twitter, Malone and The New Yorker said they stood by the article and that it was carefully reported and fact-checked and that it thoroughly presented its perspective. The article included interviews with more than 20 people, including former employees of Minhaj’s Netflix show and “The Daily Show,” where he became known as a correspondent, according to the statement.
“Hasan Minhaj confirms in this video that he is selectively presenting and embellishing information to make a point: exactly what we reported,” the statement said.
The New Yorker article sparked debate among comedians, critics and fans about the extent to which audiences expect stand-up comedy to be factual. In his video, Minhaj called the fact-checking of the Patriot Act, which covered issues such as immigration, policing and affirmative action, “extremely rigorous.” However, he sees his work as a “storytelling comedian” differently: “I assumed that the boundaries between truth and fiction would blur a little.”
Minhaj also discussed in the article a story he told in his 2022 stand-up special in which he said he once opened a letter filled with white powder that fell on his daughter. In his story, he and his wife took their daughter to the hospital and, after hours in the waiting room, discovered that the powder was not anthrax, as they had feared.
In the video, Minhaj confirmed The New Yorker’s reporting that he did not take his daughter to a hospital. He said she was nearby when he opened an envelope containing white powder, explaining that the invention was intended to highlight the “shock and fear” he and his wife felt that day.
In another anecdote from his 2022 stand-up special, Minhaj said he was a victim of the US government’s spying on Muslim communities after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He told the audience that when he was a teenager, an FBI informant slammed him into a police car while trying to lock him up at the gym. In reality, Minhaj admitted in the video, his story stemmed from being “physically harassed” while playing basketball by what he suspected were undercover agents.
“I wanted to recreate that feeling – that only Muslims feel – for a wide audience, the feeling of paranoia and justification, tension and relaxation,” Minhaj said of the embellishment, adding: “That was my artistic intention.”