Whoopi Goldberg defends Hasan Minaj for embellishing stand-up stories

Whoopi Goldberg is defending Hasan Minhaj, who sparked a heated debate on social media after admitting to embellishing stories in his stand-up appearances over the years.

“That’s what we do,” Goldberg said of the comedian’s role on The View (via Weekly entertainment). “That’s what we do, we tell stories and we embellish them.”

“If you’re going to take a comic to the point where you’re reviewing the stories, you have to understand that a lot of it isn’t exactly what happened, because why should we tell exactly what happened?” “It’s not that interesting “, she also said, later adding: “There is information that we will give you as comics that contains a grain of truth, but don’t go to the bank with it.” That is our job, a seed of truth. Sometimes the truth and sometimes complete nonsense.”

In a story published by The New Yorker On September 15, Minhaj admitted that several stories he had told in stand-up performances over the years had been embellished. One of those stories was about an anthrax scare his family faced. In his 2022 Netflix comedy special “The King’s Jester,” Minhaj said his daughter came into direct contact with a white powder and had to go to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t anthrax. The comedian admitted that part of the story wasn’t true, although he had an athrax scare because his daughter was present in the room.

In a statement on this topic Diversity, Minhaj said: “All my stand-up stories are based on events that happened to me. Yes, I was banned from prom because of my race. Yes, a letter was sent to my apartment with powder that almost harmed my daughter. Yes, I had contact with law enforcement during the War on Terror. Yes, I had varicocele repair surgery so we could get pregnant. Yes, I roasted Jared Kushner’s face.”

“I use the tools of standup comedy – exaggeration, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. It’s in the art form,” he added. “You wouldn’t go into a haunted house and say, ‘Why are these people lying to me?’ – The point is the journey. Stand-up is the same.”