Puck News reports that embattled frontrunner Hasan Minhaj has been informed by Daily Show parent Paramount Global that he is not getting the coveted hosting gig. The news comes roughly one month after the former Patriot Act headliner found himself at the center of controversy after a damning New Yorker exposé revealed that he had embellished elements of his standup act.
According to Puck’s Matthew Belloni, Minhaj’s deal to take the Daily Show reins was all but done before the New Yorker story hit on Sept. 15. In fact, “Minhaj would have been announced as the new TDS host this summer had the strike not intervened,” Belloni, maintains.
Minhaj — who was a correspondent on The Daily Show from 2014-2018, before leaving to headline Netflix’s Patriot Act — allegedly requested a last-ditch meeting with Paramount boss Chris McCarthy to “plead his case” before he received official notification on on Thursday that he was no longer in the running.
Regarding the embellishment uproar, Minhaj argued in the New Yorker piece, “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.”
Comedy Central recently announced that it will name a full-time replacement sometime next year. The network’s search was complicated in recent weeks by longtime correspondent Roy Wood Jr.’s decision to leave after eight years.
Wood, who had emerged as the new Daily Show host frontrunner following the Minhaj scandal, said he would still consider the gig if it were offered to him.
TVLine has reached out to reps for Minhaj and The Daily Show for comment.
