Hasan Minhaj thinks back to the concert that was about to take place.
In an interview with Squire Released Wednesday, the comedian reflected on being the frontrunner to succeed Trevor Noah as host of The daily showBut after The New Yorker published a profile last year alleging that Minhaj embellished and invented his onstage anecdotes for his comedy, the gig offer was withdrawn. Jon Stewart continued to fill in for Noah, appearing on the show once a week.
“We were in negotiations, I had the job and we were moving forward,” he said. SquireAfter the story was published, Minhaj was called and told the job was no longer his.
“He's gone,” she said. “He's part of showbiz.”
In addition to losing his hosting job, Minhaj has been the subject of public scrutiny, explaining that the “most painful thing” has been the impact it has had on his family.
“The most painful thing is my wife and my parents,” he said. “Seeing them suffer, seeing them deal with, 'So I'm reading on the Internet…' — it's so painful. I'm the eldest. I feel really, really sad that I let my parents down.
“I'm very fortunate that they've been able to see a lot of the greatest moments of my career. To see them go through a painful moment, an embarrassing moment in your career, I wish I hadn't put them through that. That's the hard part,” he added.
After the article was published and the public debate surrounding it, Minhaj released a 20-minute video in which he provided context for the stories labeled as false, including his being banned from prom for racism, his clashes with undercover law enforcement officers surveilling the Muslim community in his hometown, and an anthrax scare at his home.
“There were omissions and factual errors in The New Yorker article that misrepresented my life story, so I wanted to give people the context and materials I provided The New Yorker with full transparency,” Minhaj said in a statement The Hollywood Reporter at the moment.
“With everything that's going on in the world, I realize that even talking about it now seems so trivial,” Minhaj said in the video. “But being accused of 'faking racism' is not trivial. It's very serious and requires explanation.”
He continued, “To everyone who read that article. I want to answer the most important question that's probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psychopath? Underneath all that ointment, is Hasan Minhaj just a con man who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career? Because after reading that article, I would think so too.”
“Halfway through the interview… I was saying, put this here and do that. I saw that the reporter wasn't interested,” he said. Squire on the interview. “I remember thinking, 'Oh, this might not be the best.'”
After the story and the subsequent reaction, Minhaj was contacted and spoke with other comedian friends, including Ramy Youssef and Mike Birbiglia, who in turn DAYs comedy roundtable defended Minhaj. “I love Hasan, and I think the intent of that writer remains very murky as to why they wrote that. It's very confusing to me,” Birbiglia said.
Minhaj also spoke to John Mulaney and Jon Stewart, recalling Stewart telling him, “'Why the hell are they doing this? And who benefits from this?'” Stewart encouraged him to use the experience to do something fun, saying, “This is awesome for you.”
“When Jon told me that, I felt really seen,” Minhaj said, noting that he continued to shed light on the situation in his Cut off his head standing.
Since then, Minhaj has kept busy, launching an interview show on YouTube, Hasan Minhaj doesn't knowand protagonist in It ends with usThe comedy set he took on tour will be released on Netflix in October as a stand-up special, Cut off his head.
“I've already written my next stand-up comedy show,” he teased. “It involves the stage and another comedian in an interesting way. A line producer looked at it and said, 'I don't want to budget for this, but I'm excited.' I've tried it before and it's exciting because it feels new and strange.”