Hasan Minhaj Admits to Embellishing Stand-Up Stories, Defends "Emotional Truth" | THR News Video - video Dailymotion

Hasan Minhaj is defending his stand up after a New Yorker profile found that some of the details in his onstage anecdotes may have been made up.

Transcript

00:00Hasan Minhaj is defending his stand-up after a New Yorker profile found some of the details

00:04in his onstage anecdotes may have been made up. Stories that the New Yorker found didn't

00:10necessarily play out as he presented them include jokes involving one of his children

00:14and their possible exposure to anthrax and an alleged interaction with police and an

00:19FBI informant at his family's mosque when he was a teen. In a statement to The Hollywood

00:23Reporter responding to The New Yorker story, Minhaj said in part,

00:26All my stand-up stories are based on events that happened to me. Yes, I was rejected from going

00:31to prom because of my race. Yes, a letter with powder was sent to my apartment that almost harmed

00:35my daughter. Yes, I had an interaction with law enforcement during the war on terror.

00:40He continued, I use the tools of stand-up comedy, hyperbole, changing names and locations and

00:45compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. Minhaj then added, you wouldn't go to a haunted

00:51house and say, why are these people lying to me? The point is the ride. Stand-up is the same.

00:55The comedian made the comments after the subjects of those jokes denied certain details of his

01:00recollections were true. My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth, this happened,

01:06and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction. When asked how his approach to comedy might impact

01:11a possible hosting run on The Daily Show covering someone like Representative George Santos,

01:16Minhaj reiterated his previous statements, telling the magazine,

01:19the emotional truth is first, the factual truth is secondary. For more on this story,

01:24head to THR.com. And for the latest entertainment news and updates,

01:28keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.