Comedian Hasan Minhaj broke his silence on the New Yorker interview in which he admitted he embellished several of his stand-up stories, calling the article “needlessly misleading.”
In a 20-minute video — posted to his social media pages and YouTube channel on Thursday — Minhaj, 38, apologized to those who felt “betrayed or hurt” by his stand-up.
“The reason I feel horrible is because I’m not a psycho, but this New Yorker article definitely makes me look like one,” he said.
The rest of the lengthy video is what Minhaj describes as a “deep dive” into the “scandal.” He disputed some of the New Yorker’s reporting and addressed three stories from the article: the anthrax scare he talked about in his 2022 Netflix special “Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester”; the FBI informant story he shared in the same special; and the prom anecdote from his 2017 special “Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King.”
“The truth is, racism, FBI surveillance and threats to my family happened, and I said this on the record,” he said.
In “Homecoming King,” Minhaj said a white girl named “Bethany” accepted his invitation to the prom but that her mom told him the night he showed up on her doorstep that she didn’t want them to go together, expressing concern that their daughter would be seen in photos with someone brown. The New Yorker reported that “Bethany” said she turned down Minhaj in person days before the event.
Minhaj stood by his story, saying: “Bethany’s mom did really say that. It was just a few days before prom. And I created the doorstep scene to drop the audience into the feeling of that moment, which I told the reporter.”
He also displayed screenshots of an alleged email exchange with “Bethany” in which he had congratulated her on marrying a person of color. “Bethany” allegedly wrote back, “I think my parents have come a long way,” which Minhaj said is an acknowledgement of her family’s past racism.
The New Yorker also…
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