Comedian and host of Netflixâs Patriot Act Hasan Minhaj confirmed on Tuesday he was not allowed to enter the venue where the âHowdy Modiâ event took place in Houston. Because? His comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi âwere not appreciatedâ.
About 50,000 people of the Indian-American community were at the event at NRG Stadium on Sunday where Modi and US President Donald Trump shared the stage, held hands and took a lap of the venue.
Minhaj, who appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about the event, called the Modi-Trump pairing âthe Jay-Z and Beyonce of ethno-nationalismâ.
A video of Minhaj being denied entry to âHowdy, Modiâ had circulated on social media soon after it was first posted by the eventâs organiser, Adam Matthew Weiss of AMWPR, on his Instagram stories on Sunday.
Minhajâs Patriot Act episodes on the Lok Sabha elections and the results of the election got widespread attention in India earlier this year.
Weissâ video showed Minhaj being told âsome people were not happyâ with his jokes.
On Late Night, Minhaj explained what he said to the organisers: âI said âhey guys itâs my community, you get it?â I want to be there. And theyâre like âWeâre out of space but weâll discuss itâ. Iâm like âokayâ. And Iâm like Iâm sorry for making fun of cricket. Itâs not a sport for farms, itâs an international game thatâs taking over the world. They are like âNo, some of the comments you made about Prime Minister Modi were not appreciated and youâve been blacklistedââ.
The comedian pointed out the irony of watching the event on livestream on his phone as he stood right outside the stadium and seeing his own face up on the jumbotron as one of the Indian-Americans being honoured for their contribution to the arts.
âThey were honouring me for my comedy while also blackmailing and blackballing me and kicking me out for my comedy. It is the most Indian thing ever. They were like âweâre proud of you but weâll never say it to your face,ââ Minhaj said as he showed the audience a photo of himself sitting outside on the stadiumâs parking lot.
Minhaj also talked about protesters and event attendees arguing with each other outside the stadium and threw in a joke about Kashmir.
âThe police were like âWhy are you guys arguing about sweaters? Everyone can have cashmere.â And youâre like âThatâs the problem! Everyone canât have Kashmir!ââ
Minhaj may not have gotten to say âhowdyâ but his show will be back on air in November. Hopefully, the long wait in the stadium parking lot has only given him more fodder for jokes, enough for a whole episode on Indian-Americans and âcashmereâ.