I'm less concerned about a stand-up comedian slightly embellishing the truth sometimes to make a joke land, but like.
when your entire brand is "speaking truth to power" and presenting instances of racial discrimination as authentic, emotionally moving moments in your life that are reflective of larger trends in society...this directly undercuts that. and to some people, it makes the larger truths less believable
and then falling back on the "it's just comedy" bit, minhaj's style is only comedic in parts-- he hits these very serious notes, and there's an understanding that his routines are crafted for the sake of communicating important realities, and that's what he's marketed himself as, and that's why people show up--and when that's no longer understood between him and his audience, what's the point?
going beyond his brand though, fabricating childhood stories (also about discrimination) and then directly implicating a real living woman, showing her picture to your audience of thousands (albeit blurred, but there's enough information contained there), and being unconcerned when she faces death threats and he further humiliates her...? jesus fucking christ.
Hasan Minhaj Offers Detailed Response to New Yorker Story: “It Was So Needlessly Misleading”
Hasan Minhaj shared his recordings of the infamous New Yorker interview, along with the documents he provided to the reporter, Claire Malone, showing that The New Yorker maligned him. 🧾🧾🧾
“In Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, he shared his story about being in a relationship with a white girl in high school, but after a hurtful breakup never feeling secure enough to date white girls again.
In a September 2023 New Yorker article, it was revealed that Minhaj had fabricated this event, and the woman and her Indian husband have been doxxed and threatened as a result of Minhaj's use of their photos in his show. The woman blamed Minhaj and his team for insufficiently obfuscating her identity in the photos. In one instance, Minhaj invited the woman to his live show and continued to use her photo on stage as part of a skit where he claimed her family had been racist toward him and she had rejected him due to his ethnicity.
Minhaj fabricated other stories of Islamophobia and threats made against him and his family, including one about his daughter being hospitalized due to anthrax. Minhaj admitted that he had cast fictional events as fact, but said his stories were "emotional truths" meant to convey the difficulties Muslim Americans face, not real events from in his personal life.”
——
I have seen that special, and it’s not a surprise, but it’s still frustrating. How many other Muslims will not be listened to about Islamophobia because this guy lied about it? Astaghfirullah.
(For anyone who has been following him for a little while, I realize he is a lot of trouble as well for creating a hostile environment on his show, patriot acts, I don’t want to minimize those allegations I’m just focusing on the new stuff, but if someone wants to re-blog this with information about that mess, feel free.) 
One of the good things about having an IG account again is that I can finally see all of the awesome behind-the-scenes shots for specials.
Case in point: the astonishingly talented Marc Janowitz—one of the best lighting directors in the business—just posted pics from Wanda Sykes' Emmy-nominated special, I'm An Entertainer.
If you aren't a hardcore comedy nerd like me and don't recognize Janowitz's name, you should be able to recall some of the comedy specials he's worked on in the past:
Make Happy (Bo Burnham)
Homecoming King (Hasan Minhaj, directed by The Bear's Chris Storer)
Flight of the Conchords: Live in London
Rothaniel (Jerrod Carmichael, directed by Bo)
8 (Jerrod Carmichael, directed by Bo)
Tamborine (Chris Rock, directed by Bo)
Trash White (Moses Storm)
Don Wong (Ali Wong, also Emmy-nominated for Beef!)
Feelings (Ramy Youssef, directed by The Bear's Chris Storer)
Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester | Official Trailer | Netflix
Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester | Official Trailer | Netflix
Sometimes the envelope pushes back. Hasan Minhaj’s new special, THE KING’S JESTER, drops on Netflix October 4th.
https://www.netflix.com/hasanminhajthekingsjester
SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7
About Netflix:
Netflix is the world’s leading streaming entertainment service with 221 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries, feature films and mobile games…
when sylvie rolls up to a branched timeline during the year 1982 in the middle of oklahoma in a random field, i am torn between the emotional potency of her experiencing a timeline that was destined to be destroyed like her own was, and how fucking weird it must have been for jack, the mcdonalds employee whose only priority is to graduate high school, to have encountered this feral creature rolling up straight from the end of all time. she's still in her battle armor and has open gashes on her face and she's asking for something that isn't a squirrel, possum or a rat, please. he adjusts his tie with a smile and says "okay!" when the woman with a machete asks to try everything. absolute king. customer service is just like that sometimes.
I joined mcu because of Dumbass geniuses Peter, Tony, Strange and Loki and im leaving mcu because of Peter, Tony, Strange and Loki beCAUSE THEY DESERVED BETTER YOU MFS-