comedy
In a 20-minute video, the comedian disputes the magazine’s claim that he went too far in exaggerating his experiences
A month after comedian Hasan Minhaj was accused of misleading audiences with his personal stories, the former Daily Show star has responded with a tell-all video. His argument: There is a difference between his political TV comedy and the personal stories he tells in his standup.
An article in the New Yorker suggested that Minhaj, who is Muslim, had gone too far by exaggerating his own experiences with racism, Islamophobia and political backlash, including claims about an FBI informant at his childhood mosque and the Hospitalization of his daughter due to an anthrax scare. The story may have undermined his chances of becoming the next host of The Daily Show.
In a 20-minute video provided to , Minhaj, seated at a desk with graphics behind him, says: “In political comedy, facts come first. In comedic storytelling, emotions come first.”
The video begins with a disclaimer: “With everything going on in the world, I realize that even talking about it feels so trivial right now. But it’s not trivial to be accused of feigning racism.”
He says he understands when fans ask, “Is Hasan Minhaj just a fraudster using fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career?” Because after reading this article, I would think so too.” He continues: “I am sorry to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my actions. I’ve made artistic choices to express myself and highlight larger issues affecting me and my community, and I feel terrible that I’m letting people down.
“And the reason I feel terrible is because I’m not a psycho,” he adds. “But that New Yorker article definitely made me look like one.” He says the article was “unnecessarily misleading, not only about my demeanor, but about me as a person.” The truth is that it is racism, FBI surveillance and threats against my family occurred.”
He continues: “So I’m going to do the most Hasan Minhaj thing ever: I’m going to do a deep dive into my own scandal, with graphics, because there’s so much evidence that I gave to the New Yorker that They ignored what I wanted to show you.”
The video, which includes excerpts from his interview with the magazine, focuses on three claims disputed in the article and begins with a story Minhaj tells about his high school prom in his Netflix special “Homecoming King.” . In the special, he says he came to pick up his white prom date only to find another boy in the house and that her parents didn’t want their daughter to be seen in pictures with a brown boy.
According to the New Yorker, the girl, who was given the alias “Bethany,” had actually rejected Minhaj days earlier. Still, Minhaj says in the video that Bethany’s mother really made the comment about the pictures with a brown boy, and he criticizes what he calls the magazine’s misleading language, using audio recordings of the interview to argue that these had twisted his words.
The article also claims that the woman said Minhaj dismissed her concerns when she received online threats about the promotion. Minhaj shows emails that show a warm relationship, including her thanking him for “always protecting me and my family.”
Minhaj, in his special issue “The King’s Jester,” further expands on the claim that an FBI informant entered his mosque, which resulted in Minhaj crashing into a police car. The New Yorker notes that the informant in question was in prison at the time of Minhaj’s story.
In the video, Minhaj says that he came into contact with undercover law enforcement as a child, that his mosque was actually infiltrated, and that stories like this were widespread in the United States after 9/11. “I wanted to convey to a wide audience this feeling that only Muslims feel,” he says.
Finally, he addresses the white powder story, saying that while the story of his daughter being hospitalized did not happen as he claimed, fake anthrax medicine was sent to his house and his put his daughter in danger because he was afraid of the Saudi government’s reaction to his news. “I created the hospital scene to put the audience in the same shock and fear that I and [my wife] “Beena felt,” he said.
In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker said, “Hasan Minhaj confirms in this video that he selectively presents and embellishes information to make a point: exactly what we reported.” Our article, which details Minhaj’s perspective contains, has been carefully reported and fact-checked. It’s based on interviews with more than 20 people…We stand by our story.”
Some comedians have come to Minhaj’s defense, pointing out the blurred lines between fact and fiction onstage. “This is what we do. We tell stories and we embellish them,” Whoopi Goldberg said on The View a few days after the article was published. Speaking to the New Yorker, a former writer for Minhaj’s TV show “Patriot Act” said: ” Every standup you see telling a joke has an element of truth, but what gets a laugh is dishonest.”
Others have criticized Minhaj’s approach. “If he’s lying about real people and real events, that’s a problem,” a former Daily Show writer told the magazine. “The appeal of these stories lies above all in the fact: ‘This really happened.’”
{{#Ticker}}
{{top left}}
{{bottom left}}
{{top right}}
{{bottom right}}
{{#goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}{{/goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}{{/ticker}}
{{Headline}}
{{#paragraphs}}
{{.}}
{{/paragraphs}}{{highlightedText}}
{{#choiceCards}}{{/choiceCards}}We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Watch for a message in your inbox. If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us.