Results: Hasan Minhaj & Truthfulness In Comedy
Published on 10/03/2023
For a poll about comedians and comedy, I'd normally like to include clips of the people I'm asking about, but I couldn't find any clips cleans and short enough from either comic I mention below for me to want to include them with the questions. Apologies to those who'd like an apology. And here's thanking Wikipedia (alas) and its footnotes as sources for details in the questions below.
QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
Are you familiar with stand-up comedian/actor/television host Hasan Minhaj? Yes
14%
303 votes
Maybe?
12%
254 votes
No
75%
1643 votes
2.
2.
As detailed in a story in in the September 2023 issue of The New Yorker magazine, Minhaj has been embroiled in controversy due to the embellishments he has made to some of his material and has enturely fabricated other stories. Which of the these two arguably most problematic bits of his do you find most objectionable?
Claiming, as a Muslim of East Indian parentage, that he never wanted to date white girls after a hurtful break-up from one...who never was his girlfriend. Exacerbating matters, Minhaj used an insufficiently unobscured photograph of the woman in a Netflix stand-up special, thereby subjecting her and her East Indian husband to harassment.
8%
184 votes
Telling of an incident wherein his daughter was hospitalized after having been exposed to anthrax, which was mailed to him in white powder form. Though he received a white powder by mail, it was neither anthrax nor did it reach his daughter.
9%
190 votes
I find both roughly equally troubling.
58%
1281 votes
I find neither troubling.
25%
545 votes
3.
3.
In his defense, Minhaj has stated how his comedy is a mix of 70% of what he calls "emotional truth" and 30% "hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction." Considering that his dating story makes an allegation of racism against someone and the tale about his daughter implies terrorism against a child, do you believe Minhaj's exaggerations justify his stated goal of drawing attention to mistreatment of people of his ethnic background and faith? Yes
11%
237 votes
Uncertain
48%
1046 votes
No
42%
917 votes
4.
4.
In his first performance after the story of his tendency for embellishment broke, Minhaj shared nothing in the way of personal stories, but audience members were still warned to not discuss the contents of hs set. Does this seem reasonable to you, especially from a comedian who might otherwise consider himself a champion of free speech? Yes
15%
333 votes
Unsure
43%
949 votes
No
42%
918 votes
5.
5.
Though Minhaj employed (or still employs?) his fabulist comedy to a different end, his method reminds me of that of his fellow former Daily Show cast member, Stephen Colbert, who skewered conservative politics and U.S. patriotism with his self-named character's "truthiness." Do you also see the parallel between the character Colbert portrayed and the blurring of truth in Minhaj's act? Yes
10%
222 votes
Undecided
28%
610 votes
No
17%
376 votes
Not familiar with at least one person's work
45%
992 votes
COMMENTS