LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Hasan Minhaj was slammed online after he revealed that many of the stories he narrated during his stand-up skits were fabricated, including the story about his daughter being exposed by anthrax.
Minhaj is primarily known for his appearances on ‘The Daily Show’, Netflix-specials ‘The King’s Jester’ and the Emmy-winning ‘Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj’.
What did Hasan Minhaj say?
During an interview with The New Yorker, the 37-year-old comedian admitted building all his stories “around a seed of truth.”
He told the publication, “Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth. My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
During one of the skits in ‘The King’s Jester’, he said that a letter was delivered to his home with some white powder in it.
He claimed his young daughter came in contact with the powder and had to be rushed to a hospital. However, in the interview, he claimed the story was fabricated.
He added that a similar letter was sent to his house and he joked to his wife Beena Patel, “Holy s**t. What if this was anthrax?”
He made up another story about an FBI informant, Brother Eric, and his interaction with him.
However, he confessed that both of his stories were based on “emotional truth,” while maintaining, “The punch line is worth the fictionalized premise.”
When he was asked whether he was manipulating the audience, he replied explained, “I think they are coming for the emotional roller-coaster ride…"
He continued, "To the people that are, like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, f**k yes — that’s the point.”
Hasan Minhaj claims he uses 'tools of standup comedy'
Following the outrage, Minhaj told Variety, “All my standup stories are based on events that happened to me.”
Speaking about the prom rejection, he said, “Yes, I was rejected from going to prom because of my race.”
He continued, “Yes, a letter with powder was sent to my apartment that almost harmed my daughter. Yes, I had an interaction with law enforcement during the war on terror.”
About his health, he said, “Yes, I had varicocele repair surgery so we could get pregnant,” adding, “Yes, I roasted Jared Kushner to his face.”
He explained, “I use the tools of standup comedy—hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. That’s inherent to the art form.”
To back up the claim he stated, “You wouldn’t go to a Haunted House and say ‘Why are these people lying to me?’—The point is the ride. Standup is the same.”
Internet says 'this hurts' after Hasan Monhaj's confession
Minhaj's confession evoked mixed reactions from netizens, While several slammed him for the made-up stories, some fans sided with the comedian and defended his act.
A person tweeted, "This hurts, I really liked Hasan. This is very disappointing."
Another penned, "I loved his Netflix series but then I read a female crew member said it was the most hostile work environment she’s ever experienced….very sad."
Another netizen wrote, "It should be more than disappointment. It should evoke disgust. Now why should anyone trust when they heat racism stories."
The user added, "'Emotional Truth' is not truth just marketing. Face it! he threw his friend, her parents, her future husband under the bus."
"Hasan Minhaj’s ego is terrifying. Imagine, it’s a leisurely afternoon in the West Village and you admit to a journalist that you fabricated a story about your child being exposed to anthrax," another person wrote.
"I've rly loved Hasan Minhaj's comedy, esp. his story about a girl whose racist parents had her reject him on prom night," a heartbroken fan wrote.
The fan added, "The fact that he lied, that she just wasn't interested, & that she's received years of online threats is disappointing."
However, on the other end of the spectrum, many people defended Minhaj as they claimed comedians made up stories most of the time.
"Unless he's made rock solid claims of this, either way, he's a comedian. Comedians can make up stories to sell a joke if need be. Songwriters do the same thing sometimes in all the various genres," a fan wrote.
"This just in: nearly all stories that comedians tell are embellished or complete fiction," said another.
"Was there a point in time where people believed all the stories that stand-up comics tell were real events?" asked someone.
Defending his story about the girl rejecting him, another fan said, "I seriously doubt that Hasan made this up. It could be true that she didn't like him, and it could also be true that he experienced racism from her family."
