In October 2005, Stephen Colbert invented a new word: authenticity.
Put simply monologue for colbert report, a satirical show in which the comedian played a caricature of a conservative, hardline cable news anchor, in which he challenged an approach to news that relied on facts and reliable sources. „I don't trust books,“ Colbert says. „They are all facts, not hearts, and that is exactly what is separating our country today.“ Truth emanates from emotion, not hard evidence, and affirms beliefs backed by strong emotions. To do.
This was the post-9/11 era of the George W. Bush administration, so inevitably Colbert brought up the Iraq war. „Maybe there are some missing pieces in the rationale for the war. But it doesn't exclude Saddam.“ feel Like the right thing? Here he is,” he said, pointing to his stomach. here In the intestines. Because that's where the truth comes from, which is from the gut.'' Colbert concluded by pledging to remain true. authenticity He told the viewers the news. “Anyone can read the news to you,” he deadpans. „i promise feel news in you. „
authenticity Added to popular dictionary.Today there are multiple dictionary Include the word. This general concept is sometimes, but not always, associated with the term and has become a prominent and recurring criticism of right-wing politics and journalism. Broadly speaking, the argument was that the Republican Party and the American right consistently ignore factual rigor when it is inconvenient. As political debate has shifted to social media, so has the criticism, with Democrats increasingly warning about online misinformation and disinformation.
Colbert transitioned into a new role as a traditional late-night talk show host, playing himself rather than a comic caricature. But he continued to stress that his right-wingers are prone to exaggeration, omissions, conspiracy theories and flat-out falsehoods. At the beginning of 2022, he A hypothetical Spotify playlist of vaccine misinformation, in response to what he said were harmful inaccuracies spread on the service by popular podcaster Joe Rogan. A playlist gag ad that aired on his late-night show announced, „Understand the basic facts before shuffling.'' lol.
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One might wonder how Colbert feels about Hasan Minhaj in his heart.
Like Colbert, Minhaj is a comedian by trade and has two Netflix specials. And like Colbert, Minhaj often uses comedy for political purposes. Minhaj is an Indian-American, and his stand-up show tells personal stories of racism and abuse. He is a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump and the post-9/11 internal security apparatus.
From 2018 to 2020, Minhaj served as host patriot acta left-wing news and comedy Netflix series. patriot act reminded me of daily show, Comedy Central's long-running pseudo-news show featured Colbert as a „correspondent“ from 1997 to 2005.rear daily show Host Trevor Noah announced he would be leaving the show at the end of 2022, and Minhaj was widely reported as the frontrunner for the slot.
daily show is a comedy show filled with jokes, sarcasm, and absurdity. However, it is also a current affairs program that aims to inform viewers. In the mid-2000s, when Jon Stewart was host, at the height of his cultural influence, pundits sometimes complained that too many young people got their news from Stewart.
After Stewart's departure, the show's relevance waned, but it spawned several imitators, including a show on HBO. last week tonighthosted by John Oliver (another daily show alum), and even another Jon Stewart series, john stewart problem, on the Apple TV+ streaming service (recently canceled). Liberal comics didn't just mock the news. They communicated and explained it with clarity and moral force.
Minhaj seemed to fit into this tradition. What should be noted is that Claire Malone profiled him as new yorker In September, she reported that she could not confirm multiple stories Minhaj told on his stand-up special. They were always personal stories aimed at making a political point, and generally about state or personal mistreatment of people like Minhaj.
One story in the Netflix special revolves around a man who befriends Minhaj, his family, and their mosque in 2002. The man, known as „Brother Eric,“ was white. He claimed to have converted to Islam. Minhaj said Brother Erik tried to persuade some of the young men at the mosque to talk about jihad after insinuating himself into their lives.
Minhaj says he believed Eric was a law enforcement informant. As a kind of joke, Minhaj said he told brother Eric that he wanted to get a pilot's license. According to Minhaj, this led to a visit from the police and he hit his head on the bonnet of a police car. Years later, Minhaj said his family watched the news reveal that a man resembling Brother Eric was an FBI informant. Young Minhaj seemed to see through the ruse.
This is hardly true. There was a man who looked like Brother Eric as an FBI informant. However, as Mr. Malone reported, he went to prison in 2002 and began working for the federal government until 2006. He did not do any work in the area where Mr. Minhaj's story allegedly occurred.
In other words, the time, place, and details of Minhaj's personal experiences, including his eyewitness accounts that allegedly led to his violent encounter with police, were completely fabricated.
In another anecdote in the feature, Minhaj recalled receiving an envelope containing a white powder at home. Minhaj said a suspicious white powder came into contact with her young daughter, who was taken to the hospital.
However, Malone could not find any police accounts matching this event. In an interview with Minhaj, the comedian „admitted that her daughter was never exposed to white powder and that she was never hospitalized.“ Instead, he received the powder in the mail and joked to his wife that it might be anthrax.
Minhaj defended his work in the face of reported evidence that many of his stories were false or greatly exaggerated. „Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth,“ he told Malone. „My comedy, Arnold Palmer, is 70% emotional truth, this actually happened, and 30% exaggeration, exaggeration, fiction.“
emotional truth. In other words, Minhaj's point was that his story didn't have to be that way. actually because they are real Felt truth. Minhaj defended truth as good and just, as long as it served the right kind of political narrative. He didn't just report the news to you.he was there Feeling news in you.
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Malone's profile noted other alleged gaps in Minhaj's story. In one anecdote, Minhaj tells how he was turned down as a date to prom. She was white and he wasn't. She says Minhaj initially accepted his invitation, but the moment he arrived at her home to pick her up, he humiliated her and backed away. Another boy had left a corsage on the doorstep. In her special, Minhaj said her reason for declining was because her parents didn't want her to be photographed with people of color.
Mr. Malone reported a different version of events after interviewing the woman who was not named in the article. She told Malone that it wasn't on prom night that she was rejected. It happened a few days ago. „Mr. Minhaj acknowledged that this was correct,“ Mr. Malone wrote. „But he said they had long had different understandings of Ms. Minhaj's rejection.“ In the next sentence, she said that as a „dark-skinned kid“ in California, she had been conditioned to „just accept.“ He is quoted as saying:
„The 'emotional truth' of the story he told on stage resonated and justified the fabrication of details,“ Malone wrote. The woman also said Minhaj had been invited to perform a stand-up routine in which he told the story of his prom night, the reporter said. „While she initially interpreted the invitation as an attempt to rekindle her old friendship, she now believes the invitation was meant to humiliate her.“
A few weeks after Malone's article was published, the comedian Video response released. The video is just over 20 minutes long, and in it, Minhaj claims that Malone cut out key parts of the quote and distorted its meaning.
In it, Minhaj argues that: new yorker The story was „unnecessarily misleading.“ Most of his responses center around the story of prom night. He shows emails between him and the woman in his story showing that he requested her invitation to one of his performances. He also took issue with Malone's use of the quote „different understandings of her rejection,“ which lacked context in Malone's presentation and suggested he attributed racial motivations for her rejection. He argued that this suggested he had fabricated the story. He provides a complete version of the quote that makes his point more clearly. In other words, the woman did not understand how much he was hurt by the incident.
The video then features the story of Brother Eric and anthrax. In both cases, he admits that the story did not happen exactly as he told it on stage. He said he had had interactions with undercover law enforcement authorities, but added: „This never really happened, so I can understand why people would be upset.“
After introducing the anthrax story and giving some details about the comedy special, he says, „You know, that's not how this happened.“ He apologized for embellishing the story, but defended his adaptation as necessary to focus on the larger truth. Over the course of the video, he claims that his deception (though he doesn't use that word) was necessary to make his story clearer, more relatable, and more empathetic to viewers. ing.
Maybe there was some truth to it new yorkerExposure? Or was Minhaj's defense itself an exercise in obfuscation?
a slate Looking back at Minhaj's defense concluded that „almost everything the New Yorker article asserts appears to be consistent with Minhaj's version of the facts, except for some details of the prom date story.“ After Minhaj posted the video, Malone said: „Hasan Minhaj acknowledged in this video that he selectively presented information and exaggerated information to make his point. That's what I reported,“ he tweeted. of new yorker I watched the story from the sidelines.
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Some may argue that comedy features do not have a journalistic responsibility to uncover the truth. Minhaj says he draws a line between his stand-up work and his more journalistic endeavors. patriot act.
To be sure, Minhaj isn't the first comedian to exaggerate, embellish, or outright lie for laughs. In fact, there is a long and noble tradition of lying for laughs. If a silly story makes you laugh out loud, it doesn't have to be true.
But Minhaj's stand-up hoax was more than just a joke. In some cases, they weren't even jokes at all, or weren't presented as far-fetched stories, but as plain truth about American prejudice.among them new yorker In this article, Minhaj explicitly defended the use of falsehoods to make claims stronger. „The punchline deserves a fictionalized premise,“ he told Malone. In his defense video, he says he „made artistic choices to express myself and drive home the larger issues that affect me and my community.“
moreover, patriot act There were fact checkers in the research department, but Minhaj reportedly found them frustrating. „In one instance, Minhaj became frustrated that fact-checking was interfering with the creative flow during the final rewrite process, and two female researchers were asked to leave the writing room,“ Malone said. „It was,“ he wrote.
Minhaj's work patriot act That's what made him a potential successor to Stewart and Noah. daily show. However, in late October, online news media pack Although Minhaj had almost reached an agreement, daily showhe won't be able to get a job.
when stewart left daily show In 2015, he issued a warning to the world of news and commentary in his final monologue. “Bullshit is everywhere,” he said. „There are very few things in life that aren't injected with some kind of bullshit.“ Some exaggeration is harmless, even necessary for socially functioning, but viewers can't help but notice „more egregious bullshit. He said people need to be wary of „planned, organized bullshit designed to eliminate and distract people. Who's behind it? Bullshit.“
But he had good news. „The bullshit guys have gotten pretty lazy,“ Stewart said. “And their work is easy to spot.”