Whoopi Goldberg defends Hasan Minhaj for embellishing standup stories
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on September 19, 2023
Whoopi Goldberg came to comedian Hasan Minhaj‘s defense during the Monday, September 18 episode of ABC’s The View.
“That’s what we do … tell stories and we embellish them,” noted Goldberg, 67. “If you’re gonna hold a comic to the point where you’re gonna check up on stories, you have to understand, a lot of it is not the exact thing that happened because why would we tell exactly what happened? It ain’t that interesting.”
“There’s information that we will give you as comics that will have grains of truth, but don’t take it to the bank,” she added. “That’s our job, a seed of truth. Sometimes truth and sometimes total BS.”
Goldberg’s comments come after, in a New Yorker profile, Minhaj, 37, admitted to making up some of the stories he told in past standup specials.
“Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth. My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction,” Minhaj said.
“No, I don’t think I’m manipulating [the audience],” the former Daily Show correspondent added. “I think they are coming for the emotional roller-coaster ride…To the people that are, like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, f*** yes — that’s the point.”
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