Bill Maher calls Hasan Minhaj the Jussie Smollett of stand-up on “Real Time”

In a segment of “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday night, Maher devoted a good portion of time to his take on the fairly recent Hasan Minhaj scandal, in which the comedian and fill-in for “The Daily Show” was found to have embellished details from his life for the sake of material. Comparing Minhaj’s “emotional truths” — as they were described in an article by The New Yorker — to those of Trump supporters who refuse to believe that Biden won because “it doesn’t feel right,” Maher made a case for honesty overall, even in cases where it may not land a punchline.

“When the Right does this, we call it conspiracy theories, and rightfully so,” Maher said on the topic of bending hopes and feelings into facts. “When the Left does it, we call it emotional truth, Which brings me to Hasan Minhaj, the comedian who answers the question, ‘What if Jussie Smollett did stand-up?’”

Tossing it back to The New Yorker article, which details the ways in which “the stories Mr. Minhaj tells in his act to elicit sympathy for himself as a Muslim and a person of color are completely made up,” Maher found a way to tie it back to himself with, “He’s done this before with me. Accusing me of saying Muslims should be put in internment camps—something I’ve never come close to thinking, let alone saying. How is that different than this guy?” Here, he cuts to a clip of Trump claiming to have seen thousands of people cheering in New Jersey on 9/11. Watch below: