Hasan Minhaj took to his social media to post a 20-minute in-depth video to speak out against his The New Yorker story that alleges he fabricated or exaggerated elements of stories that he tells in his stand-up comedy. The story raised questions about the authenticity of his narratives and the extent to which a comedian can exercise their artistic license.
In the video, Minhaj contextualizes three stories from his stand-up act that were alleged as fabricated in The New Yorker: being rejected for prom because of his race, his encounter with undercover law enforcement surveilling the Muslim community in his hometown, and an anthrax scare episode at home.
During the course of the video, he apologised in regard to embellishing facts in his stand-ups, but clarified that "being accused of ‘faking racism’ is not trivial."
He said, “I just want to say to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my stand-up, I am sorry. I made artistic choices to express myself and drive home larger issues affecting me and my community, and I feel horrible that I let people down."
He also went on to add:
“The reason I feel horrible is because I’m not a psycho. But this New Yorker article definitely made me look like one. It was so needlessly misleading, not just about my stand-up, but also about me as a person. The truth is, racism, FBI surveillance and the threats to my family happened. And I said this on the record,”
In the first part of the video, Minhaj focuses on his prom date story. It shows emails and texts between Minhaj and Bethany, showing Bethany thanking him for protecting her and her family. In the article, however, it says the story in Homecoming King led to her facing online hate. The mail moreover, indirectly acknowledges that her parents turned Minhaj away from being Bethany’s prom date.
The comedian also goes on to insist, in regard to the article, "Someone genuinely curious about truth in stand-up wouldn’t just fact-check my specials. They would fact-check a bunch of specials. They would establish a control group, a baseline, to see how far outside the bounds I was in relation to others. They wouldn’t just cherry-pick a few stories."
Minhaj concludes, “The guy in this article is a proper fucking psycho, but I now hope you feel like the real me is not. “I’m just a guy with IBS and low sperm motility. Again, there is much more important news happening in the world right now that needs your attention. So I appreciate you watching and I hope to see you at the next show.”
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the publication stated, “Hasan Minhaj confirms in this video that he selectively presents information and embellishes to make a point: exactly what we reported. Our piece, which includes Minhaj’s perspective at length, was carefully reported and fact-checked."
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