Entertainment
Whoopi Goldberg Defends Hasan Minhaj for Exaggerating Stand-Up Stories on September 18, 2023 at 9:46 pm Us Weekly

Whoopi Goldberg and Hasan Minhaj Bryan Bedder/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Whoopi Goldberg stood up for comedian Hasan Minhaj after he admitted to exaggerating his stand-up stories.
“That’s what we do,” Goldberg, 67, explained on a Monday, September 18 episode of The View. “That’s what we do, tell stories and we embellish them. 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.”
Goldberg elaborated: “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 joked. “That’s our job, a seed of truth. Sometimes truth and sometimes total BS.”
Minhaj, 37, confessed last week that the stories he tells in his routine are not always rooted in reality.
“Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth,” he said in an interview with The New Yorker that was published on Friday, September 15, and immediately went viral. “My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
The comedian also added that the stories he tells in his jokes are based on an “emotional truth” even if they didn’t happen to him in the first place. “The punchline is worth the fictionalized premise,” he justified.
The Netflix personality also clarified that he doesn’t think he’s “manipulating” the audience. “I think they are coming for the emotional rollercoaster ride,” Minhaj said. “To the people that are, like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, f—k yes — that’s the point.”
Several of Minhaj’s most popular fabricated bits came from his 2022 Netflix special, The King’s Jester. During the show, Minhaj recalled receiving an envelope with white powder at his home and said the powder accidentally spilled onto his daughter, who had to be rushed to the hospital. However, he told The New Yorker, his daughter had never been exposed to the white powder, nor did she have to be hospitalized.
In another story, Minhaj shared that he had a crush on a white girl in high school who rescinded her invitation to prom at the last minute. He claimed that he was rejected because her family didn’t want her to be seen with a “brown boy.” (The girl, however, told the outlet that she had turned down Minhaj — a close friend — days before the dance, and claimed that she had been doxxed and harassed online after including her in his routine.)
“All my stand-up stories are based on events that happened to me,” Minhaj said in a statement to Variety at the time. “Yes, I was rejected from going to prom because of my race. Yes, a letter with powder was sent to my apartment that almost harmed my daughter. … I use the tools of stand-up comedy — hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. That’s inherent to the art form. You wouldn’t go to a haunted house and say, ‘Why are these people lying to me?’ The point is the ride. Stand-up is the same.”
Whoopi Goldberg stood up for comedian Hasan Minhaj after he admitted to exaggerating his stand-up stories. “That’s what we do,” Goldberg, 67, explained on a Monday, September 18 episode of The View. “That’s what we do, tell stories and we embellish them. If you’re gonna hold a comic to the point where you’re gonna check
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Entertainment
What We Can Learn Inside 50 Cent’s Explosive Diddy Documentary: 5 Reasons You Should Watch

50 Cent’s new Netflix docuseries about Sean “Diddy” Combs is more than a headline-grabbing exposé; it is a meticulous breakdown of how power, celebrity, and silence can collide in the entertainment industry.
Across its episodes, the series traces Diddy’s rise, the allegations that followed him for years, and the shocking footage and testimonies now forcing a wider cultural reckoning.

1. It Chronicles Diddy’s Rise and Fall – And How Power Warps Reality
The docuseries follows Combs from hitmaker and business icon to a figure facing serious criminal conviction and public disgrace, mapping out decades of influence, branding, and behind-the-scenes behavior. Watching that arc shows how money, fame, and industry relationships can shield someone from scrutiny and delay accountability, even as disturbing accusations accumulate.

2. Never-Before-Seen Footage Shows How Narratives Are Managed
Exclusive footage of Diddy in private settings and in the tense days around his legal troubles reveals how carefully celebrity narratives are shaped, even in crisis.
Viewers can learn to question polished statements and recognize that what looks spontaneous in public is often the result of strategy, damage control, and legal calculation.
3. Survivors’ Stories Highlight Patterns of Abuse and Silence
Interviews with alleged victims, former staff, and industry insiders describe patterns of control, fear, and emotional or physical harm that were long whispered about but rarely aired in this detail. Their stories underline how difficult it is to speak out against a powerful figure, teaching viewers why many survivors delay disclosure and why consistent patterns across multiple accounts matter.
4. 50 Cent’s Approach Shows Storytelling as a Tool for Accountability
As executive producer, 50 Cent uses his reputation and platform to push a project that leans into uncomfortable truths rather than protecting industry relationships. The series demonstrates how documentary storytelling can challenge established power structures, elevate marginalized voices, and pressure institutions to respond when traditional systems have failed.
5. The Cultural Backlash Reveals How Society Handles Celebrity Accountability
Reactions to the doc—ranging from people calling it necessary and brave to others dismissing it as a vendetta or smear campaign—expose how emotionally invested audiences can be in defending or condemning a famous figure. Watching that debate unfold helps viewers see how fandom, nostalgia, and bias influence who is believed, and why conversations about “cancel culture” often mask deeper questions about justice and who is considered too powerful to fall.
Entertainment
South Park’s Christmas Episode Delivers the Antichrist

A new Christmas-themed episode of South Park is scheduled to air with a central plot in which Satan is depicted as preparing for the birth of an Antichrist figure. The premise extends a season-long narrative arc that has involved Satan, Donald Trump, and apocalyptic rhetoric, positioning this holiday episode as a culmination of those storylines rather than a stand‑alone concept.
Episode premise and season context
According to published synopses and entertainment coverage, the episode frames the Antichrist as part of a fictional storyline that blends religious symbolism with commentary on politics, media, and cultural fear. This follows earlier Season 28 episodes that introduced ideas about Trump fathering an Antichrist child and tech billionaire Peter Thiel obsessing over prophecy and end‑times narratives. The Christmas setting is presented as a contrast to the darker themes, reflecting the series’ pattern of pairing holiday imagery with controversial subject matter.
Public and political reactions
Coverage notes that some figures connected to Donald Trump’s political orbit have criticized the season’s portrayal of Trump and his allies, describing the show as relying on shock tactics rather than substantive critique. Commentators highlight that these objections are directed more at the depiction of real political figures and the show’s tone than at the specific theology of the Antichrist storyline.
At the time of reporting, there have not been widely reported, detailed statements from major religious leaders focused solely on this Christmas episode, though religion-focused criticism of South Park in general has a long history.
Media and cultural commentary
Entertainment outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Slate, and USA Today describe the Antichrist arc as part of South Park’s ongoing use of Trump-era and tech-world politics as material for satire.
Viewer guidance and content advisory
South Park is rated TV‑MA and is intended for adult audiences due to strong language, explicit themes, and frequent use of religious and political satire. Viewers who are sensitive to depictions of Satan, the Antichrist, or parodies involving real political figures may find this episode particularly objectionable, while others may view it as consistent with the show’s long‑running approach to controversial topics. As with previous episodes, individual responses are likely to vary widely, and the episode is best understood as part of an ongoing satirical series rather than a factual or theological statement.
Entertainment
Sydney Sweeney Finally Confronts the Plastic Surgery Rumors

Sydney Sweeney has decided she is finished watching strangers on the internet treat her face like a forensic project. After years of side‑by‑side screenshots, “then vs now” TikToks, and long comment threads wondering what work she has supposedly had done, the actor is now addressing the plastic surgery rumors directly—and using them to say something larger about how women are looked at in Hollywood and online.

Growing Up on Camera vs. “Before and After” Culture
Sweeney points out that people are often mistaking normal changes for procedures: she grew up on camera, her roles now come with big‑budget glam teams, and her body has shifted as she has trained, aged, and worked nonstop. Yet every new red‑carpet photo gets folded into a narrative that assumes surgeons, not time, are responsible. Rather than walking through a checklist of what is “real,” she emphasizes how bizarre it is that internet detectives comb through pores, noses, and jawlines as if they are owed an explanation for every contour of a woman’s face.
The Real Problem Isn’t Her Face
By speaking up, Sweeney is redirecting the conversation away from her features and toward the culture that obsesses over them.
She argues that the real issue isn’t whether an actress has had work done, but why audiences feel so entitled to dissect her body as public property in the first place.
For her, the constant speculation is less about curiosity and more about control—another way to tell women what they should look like and punish them when they do not fit. In calling out that dynamic, Sweeney isn’t just defending herself; she is forcing fans and followers to ask why tearing apart someone else’s appearance has become such a popular form of entertainment.











