Ex-'Daily Show' staffers: Hasan Minhaj’s 'fabrications' should 'disqualify' him from hosting
On September 15, The New Yorker published an article describing fabrications and exaggerations that comedian Hasan Minhaj used in his stand-up act. The California-born Minhaj has often described experiences as an Indian-American and Muslim — some of which, The New Yorker's Clare Malone reported, were untrue, or at least exaggerated.
According to Kayla Cobb and Sharon Knolle of The Wrap, three former "Daily Show" staffers who knew Minhaj from that program were not surprised by Malone's reporting.
Cobb and Knolle explain, "The admissions by Minhaj that several incidents of racism didn't happen to him, or didn't happen the way he recounted, should disqualify him to host the Comedy Central news-comedy show, they said…. In conversations with former 'Daily Show' staffers, media experts and comedy insiders, Minhaj was accused of being unethical and hurting other people of color by fabricating stories of racism that happened to him — and 'giving white supremacists the supposed proof they need.'"
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One of the interviewees, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told The Wrap, "It's extremely dangerous to cry wolf on racism, especially if you want to be the host of a very influential, politically-driven show. I don't know how (his staff) can take him seriously on Day One when he doubled down on his own lies and ridiculous excuses that his lies were emotional truths. It's almost a parody."
But Minhaj defended his approach during an interview with The Wrap, saying, "All my stand-up stories are based on events that happened to me. I use the tools of stand-up comedy — hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. That's inherent to the art form."
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Read The Wrap's full report at this link (subscription required).
