American comedian and writer Hasan Minhaj issued a YouTube response to a New Yorker article that came out in September, defending himself against accusations that he lied or "embellished" certain details about his personal life for comedic or dramatic effect.

The response comes six weeks after New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone wrote an article titled, "Hasan Minhaj's 'Emotional Truths,'" in which she delved into Minhaj's jokes about being rejected as a prom date for being brown, being mailed fake anthrax and being accosted by an undercover FBI informant.

Minhaj posted a YouTube video responding to Malone's claims that he embellished or exaggerated certain aspects of those stories, pulling out recordings of his interview with Malone, as well as email correspondences in an effort to clear his name.

One anecdote scrutinized by the New Yorker was a joke told in Minhaj's 2017 stand-up special in which he describes how he was told by his white prom date's mother that she did not want extended family "in Nebraska" seeing photos of her daughter with a brown man at prom. Minhaj paints a scene where he was rejected on his date's doorstep, while the New Yorker reports that Minhaj's would-be date actually turned him down days before the prom.

Wow. This is pretty horrible. Hasan Minhaj has just produced the recording of the interview and the documents he provided to the reporter, showing that The New Yorker totally smeared him.

They absolutely should not stand by the story. https://t.co/ZpU2Z69jhr pic.twitter.com/pcHp1OXHu7

— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) October 26, 2023

In his video response, Minhaj pulls out receipts showing that he freely admitted to changing details about the event for dramatic and comedic effect, while also showing years of detailed correspondence between him and his would-be date that doesn't just indicate a courteous and friendly relationship, but also confirm that his race was indeed a factor in his rejection.

Clare Malone and the New Yorker issued a statement soon after Minhaj's video was released, saying that his response does not contradict their reporting and that they "stand by" their article.

However, not everyone on the internet was impressed with the carefully worded statement, saying that Malone's article comes off as a "hit piece" given Minhaj's defense.

the reason the hasan minhaj stuff is frustrating me is cause it's crazy that a brown dude has to pull out receipts to prove he faced racism because a white woman put out an article to intentionally make it seem like he never faced any.. what does she even know abt racism?

— ہرا پندا (@agreenpandaa) October 26, 2023

Minhaj also addresses the New Yorker article's fact check about a story told in a 2022 stand-up special in which he describes opening a letter filled with white powder that falls on his young daughter. In Minhaj's on-stage telling, he and his wife rush their daughter to the hospital, only to find out hours later that the powder was not in fact anthrax.

In his YouTube video, Minhaj confirms Malone's reporting that while he was mailed something containing white powder, he did not indeed take his daughter to the hospital. However, he also notes that the fabricated version of the story was his attempt to highlight the "shock and fear" experienced by his family that day.

Finally, Minhaj also responded to the New Yorker alleging that he lied about being slammed against a car by an FBI informant in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York by criticizing Clare Malone's line of interrogation during their interview, saying that she placed undue attention on how Minhaj should have given the FBI informant a "heads up" before performing a joke about him.

I can't stop thinking about the sheer audacity with which clare malone asked hasan minhaj if he felt the need to reach out to the FBI agent who infiltrated his mosque, if he felt like he owed him a heads up

— ibu hatela (@sdmnfce) October 26, 2023

Internet users also discussed comedic license as wielded by stage performers, noting that the New Yorker misrepresented a quote from Hasan, saying that to him, "the emotional truth comes first, the factual truth second."

In fact, as heard in Minhaj's recordings of the conversation between him and Malone, he says that this only holds true for comedy revolving around his personal life. In comedy sets pertaining to politics, Minhaj can be heard insisting that facts come first.

I just watched the whole 21 minutes on YouTube and it’s pretty insane how her article pretty much crosses the line of misrepresenting and becomes just lying. The bias she has against him is so strong. Anyway this is the most important part I think. https://t.co/jJ6fzZnb0s pic.twitter.com/HiVSC33Ns2

— sweetcheeks 🇮🇪🇵🇸 (@Euan_Rogerson) October 27, 2023