Hasan Minhaj says New Yorker article made him look like a ‘psycho’

Comedian Hasan Minhaj broke his silence on the New Yorker interview in which he admitted he embellished several of his stand-up stories, calling the article “needlessly misleading.”

In a 20-minute video — posted to his social media pages and YouTube channel on Thursday — Minhaj, 38, apologized to those who felt “betrayed or hurt” by his stand-up.

“The reason I feel horrible is because I’m not a psycho, but this New Yorker article definitely makes me look like one,” he said.

The rest of the lengthy video is what Minhaj describes as a “deep dive” into the “scandal.” He disputed some of the New Yorker’s reporting and addressed three stories from the article: the anthrax scare he talked about in his 2022 Netflix special “Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester”; the FBI informant story he shared in the same special; and the prom anecdote from his 2017 special “Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King.”

“The truth is, racism, FBI surveillance and threats to my family happened, and I said this on the record,” he said.

In “Homecoming King,” Minhaj said a white girl named “Bethany” accepted his invitation to the prom but that her mom told him the night he showed up on her doorstep that she didn’t want them to go together, expressing concern that their daughter would be seen in photos with someone brown. The New Yorker reported that “Bethany” said she turned down Minhaj in person days before the event.

Minhaj stood by his story, saying: “Bethany’s mom did really say that. It was just a few days before prom. And I created the doorstep scene to drop the audience into the feeling of that moment, which I told the reporter.”

He also displayed screenshots of an alleged email exchange with “Bethany” in which he had congratulated her on marrying a person of color. “Bethany” allegedly wrote back, “I think my parents have come a long way,” which Minhaj said is an acknowledgement of her family’s past racism.

The New Yorker also touched on the “King’s Jester” special, in which Minhaj said an FBI informant he called “Brother Eric” infiltrated his mosque and harassed him when he was in high school. The publication reported Minhaj had fabricated a detail from the story in which he said he got slammed against the hood of a car by “Brother Eric.”

Minhaj confirmed in his video Thursday that this did not happen to him. He said the anecdote was meant to spotlight the story of Hamid Hayat, a Muslim American man Minhaj’s age who lost 14 years of his life to a wrongful conviction of terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11, and whom Minhaj draws a parallel to during his special.

“The truth is, I did have altercations with undercover law enforcement growing up. And that experience formed the basis of this story, but it didn’t go down exactly like this,” Minhaj said. “So I understand why people are upset. People face real danger at the hands of the police, and false stories can undermine real stories. And I am sorry, I added to that problem.”

In “The King's Jester,” he recounts opening an envelope sent to his home that was filled with white powder, some of which he said spilled onto his young daughter. He said in the special that he and his wife rushed her to the hospital before finding out the powder was not actually anthrax — a detail he had told The New Yorker was an embellishment to the real story.

While he said he’s “sorry for embellishing the story,” he said he did get sent a letter with white powder to his apartment in February 2019.

“I opened it in the kitchen, powder fell on the table and my daughter was just a few feet away,” he said. “After 10 seconds of freaking out, I realized it was not anthrax and that someone was f---ing with me.”

He said he created the hospital scene to immerse the audience in the same shock and fear he and his wife experienced after opening the powder-filled envelope, and that they had decided to keep the anthrax scare private at the time for fear of Netflix canceling his show.

In an email statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for The New Yorker said the publication stands by its story.

“Hasan Minhaj confirms in this video that he selectively presents information and embellishes to make a point: exactly what we reported,” the spokesperson said. “Our piece, which includes Minhaj’s perspective at length, was carefully reported and fact-checked.”

The article was based on interviews with more than 20 people, the spokesperson said, “including former ‘Patriot Act’ and ‘Daily Show’ staffers; members of Minhaj’s security team; and people who have been the subject of his standup work, including the former F.B.I. informant ‘Brother Eric’ and the woman at the center of his prom-rejection story. We stand by our story.”

The reporter behind the article also shared The New Yorker’s statement in a post on the X social media platform, adding “I stand by the story and encourage people to read it in full.”

A spokesperson for Minhaj did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

In the video, Minhaj said he decided to share his response now, amid the ongoing “devastating and hopeless” news in the Middle East, because people have asked him if he’s a “liar” and “being accused of faking racism is not trivial.”

“Going forward, will I be more thoughtful about sticking to the facts in my storytelling? Absolutely,” he told viewers. “I have no problem with honest, good-faith critique, because I am always trying to improve as a performer and as a person. Look, the guy in this article is a proper … psycho. But I now hope you feel like the real me is not.”