Hasan Minhajpp Daily show the hosting gig was actually done away with by the now infamous condemnation The New Yorker profile, according to the comedian himself.
He reflected on the negative reaction he received following the publication of the story on 15 September 2023 – where he had admitted to embellish some of his stand-up stories – while talking to Esquirewho describes the fallout as “painful”.
“It was the first time I saw the speed and velocity of the Internet, how quickly a story can take off. That part of it was very new to me and disorienting,” he explained.
Now, months later reports that he had lost out on hosting the Comedy Central news series, he verified speculation that the profile cost him the role.
“We talked, and I had the gig, and we were pretty good to go,” he recalled, noting that “it went over” in the aftermath of the story. “It’s part of showbiz.”
In the profile, Minhaj had claimed that “every story in the [his] style is built around a seed of truth,” summarizes his “comedy Arnold Palmer” as “seventy percent emotional truth—this happened—and then thirty percent exaggeration, exaggeration, fiction.”
Minhaj replied to the October 2023 backlash in a YouTube video, apologizing “to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by [his] stand-up” but deemed the profile “unnecessarily misleading” as he justified his work. While he made light of the lost role at the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival in May, he has since created one as well new talk show titled Hasan Minhaj doesn’t know.
Esquire noted that comedians including Mike Birbiglia, Ramy Youssef, John Mulaneyand Daily show veterinary Jon Stewart had talked to him during the blowout.
“I remember Jon [Stewart] called and he said, ‘Why the hell are they doing this? And who benefits from this?’” Minhaj retorted.
He also lamented the impact on his wife and parents, calling it “the most painful thing”.
“To see them hurt, to see them engage in ‘So I’m reading on the Internet…’ — it’s so painful. I’m the oldest. I feel really, really sad that I let my parents down,” he shared.