Comedian Hasan Minhaj was accused in a recent New Yorker magazine story of fabricating or exaggerating the personal stories he tells in his stand-up routine. The article suggested that he was not truthful in his accounts of his life experiences, particularly those related to his experiences as a Muslim American and an Asian American. In response to this article, Hasan Minhaj, The Daily Show alum, released a detailed 21-minute video countering the allegations.

The article in The New Yorker implied that Hasan Minhaj may have stretched the truth when sharing his personal encounters with racism, Islamophobia, and political challenges.

Watch the video here:

In response to The New Yorker’s claims, Hasan Minhaj offers additional details on three stories from his stand-up routine that came under scrutiny. These stories involve his experience of being rejected for a prom date due to racism, encounters with undercover law enforcement monitoring the Muslim community in his hometown, and a personal incident involving an anthrax scare at his residence.

In the beginning of the video, he said he understands if fans are asking, “Is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career? Because after reading that article, I would also think that.”

“I just want to say to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my stand-up, I am sorry. I made artistic choices to express myself and drive home larger issues affecting me and my community, and I feel horrible that I let people down.”

“And the reason I feel horrible is because I’m not a psycho,” he added. “But this New Yorker article definitely made me look like one.” He said the article was “needlessly misleading, not just about my standup but also about me as a person. The truth is, racism, FBI surveillance, and the threats to my family happened.”

“So I’m going to do the most Hasan Minhaj thing ever: I’m going to do a deep dive on my own scandal, with graphics, because there is so much evidence I gave the New Yorker that they ignored that I want to show you,” he continued.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, in Minhaj’s Netflix special Homecoming King, he tells a story of asking a white girl (whom he gives the pseudonym “Bethany Reed”) to prom, only to show up at her house and be told by her mother that Bethany won’t go with him because her family doesn’t want their daughter in pictures with “a brown boy.”

“Bethany’s mom really did say that-it was just a few days before prom,” he said in the video. “I created the doorstep scene to drop the audience into the feeling of that moment, which I told the reporter.”

In the video, Hasan Minhaj plays an audio clip of a portion of his conversation with writer Clare Malone, where they discuss the particular scene in question.

Additionally, the video presents emails and text messages exchanged between Minhaj and Bethany, demonstrating that he provided this evidence to the magazine. These messages show Bethany expressing gratitude to Minhaj for his efforts in protecting her and her family.

 Commander of the Darj Tafah battalion of Hamas, Rafat Abbas and the commander of combat and administrative assistance, Tarek Maruf, have been killed using fighter jets, it said adding that Rafat Abbas’ deputy, Ebrahim Jedeva, was also killed. “The battalion is considered to be the most significant brigade of the Hamas,” IDF said.Israel army yesterday said it had sent tanks, troops and armoured bulldozers into the enclave in a “targeted raid” on Wednesday night that destroyed multiple sites before withdrawing.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — amid the growing calls to temper the ferocious bombing campaign — said Israel had been “raining down hellfire on Hamas” and killing “thousands of terrorists”. He said his war cabinet and the military would determine the timing of a “ground offensive” with the goal to “eliminate Hamas” and “bring our captives home”.Hamas’ armed wing said Israeli strikes have killed almost 50 of the 222 hostages its operatives seized during the attacks. Hamas has released four hostages so far. The Palestinian group released two elderly Isreli women on Monday citing “compelling humanitarian” reasons, after mediation by Qatar and Egypt. Their release comes days after a US mother and daughter were freed.The US military struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups today. The strikes in Syria follow a direct warning from President Joe Biden to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against the strikes on US troops. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, however,  sought to distance the Syria strikes from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.  US forces have been attacked more than a dozen times in Iraq and Syria in the past week by what Washington suspects are Iran-backed groups. Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardments, mostly civilians and many of them children.International alarm has increased amid growing shock about the scale of human suffering inside the besieged Palestinian territory where Israel has cut off most water, food, fuel and other basic supplies.European Union leaders called for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” to get aid into Gaza as the United Nations warned “nowhere” in the territory is safe from Israel’s retaliation for bloody Hamas attacks.The October 7 attacks saw Hamas operatives pour from Gaza into Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and kidnapping 224 more. Israel has retaliated with relentless strikes that Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said have killed more than 7,000 people, also mainly civilians.

Mahua Moitra’s login and travel details have been sought by the parliamentary Ethics Committee, which is inquiring into complaints of “cash for query” against the Trinamool Congress MP and held its first hearing on Thursday.

The Ethics Committee has written to the Union IT and Home ministries for details of Mahua Moitra’s logins and locations to try and verify allegations that she allowed businessman Darshan Hiranandani to access her parliamentary login to post questions directly for Lok Sabha.

The Lok Sabha MP has been accused of taking money to ask questions in parliament, on behalf of the businessman, allegedly designed to target the government and the Adani Group.

The panel has also written to the Ministry of External Affairs to check if an affidavit by Darshan Hiranandani, who is based in Dubai, is ratified.

In the affidavit, Mr Hiranandani had alleged that Mahua Moitra shared her Lok Sabha e-mail ID so he could send her information targeting the Adani Group and she could raise questions in parliament. He claimed she later gave him the login so he could post directly.

The panel has said it will call “no more witnesses” after hearing Mahua Moitra, and submit its report in the beginning of November.

In a nearly three-hour hearing yesterday, the committee heard BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and discussed every aspect of the allegations they have made against the Trinamool MP.

Nishikant Dubey had first written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to start the inquiry, following Mr Dehadrai’s complaint to the Supreme Court.

Mr Dehradai, whom Ms Moitra called a “jilted ex”, claims “irrefutable evidence” of Darshan Hiranandani giving the Trinamool leader bribes to ask questions critical of the Adani Group.

Ms Moitra has denied all allegations and said that she is ready to answer questions from the committee.