Eagerly Waiting Protestors Let Down By Minhaj’s Un-Patriot Act

Do we expect too much from Hasan Minhaj?

On 20 December, Hasan Minhaj put up a teaser of his upcoming Patriot Act episode. The teaser showed Minhaj commenting on the ongoing protests in India against the Citizenship Amendment Act, captioned “#CAA + #NRC + more this Sunday on @PatriotAct”. Media houses blew up with headlines as fans posted and re-posted the teaser.

#CAA + #NRC + more this Sunday on @patriotact pic.twitter.com/AIoAub8Fwu

— Hasan Minhaj (@hasanminhaj) December 20, 2019

Thank you for covering this and making our voices heard 💓💓💓

— Phoenix 🇮🇳 (@misogul) December 20, 2019

However, fans were disappointed when an episode on ‘How America Is Causing Global Obesity’ dropped on Sunday, which did not speak about the NRC anything beyond the one minute clip Hasan had posted earlier. Angry tweets flooded the internet with people questioning why Hasan decided to use such a massive turning point in the country’s politics as a marketing gimmick.

Twitter user @sharayuail decoded why Hasan using the issue as a sort of ‘clickbait’ is problematic to her:

People are literally begging mainstream media outlets to cover the situation in India. Relentlessly tagging journalists and news channels on videos and posts.

And he really had to go and trick us like that?

— Sharayu Ail (@SharayuAil) December 22, 2019

For all of you who want to watch @hasanminhaj latest episode on @patriotact for #CAA , you will be disappointed as it has just the two minutes and all of it was revealed in the teaser. Not cool #HasanMinhaj , not cool 😒 #PatriotAct @NetflixIndia #CAA_NRC_Protests #CABBill

— vishesh (@vroy38) December 22, 2019

And while most had speculated that the episode will get taken off much like the episode on Saudi Arabian politics, some questioned if “the Indian government” got to him:

@hasanminhaj you promised a show on NRC and CAA and ended up showing us obesity. Did Indian Govt really get to you? Or was it the protesters? Whyy you do us like that mann. #HasanMinhaj #patriotact

— Anmol jindal (@anmolj13) December 23, 2019

Hasan Minhaj was lauded for talking about “compassion fatigue” in the same episode, where he addressed how our brains are constantly absorbing information about issues around us - everything from climate change to racism - and how we feel pressured to contribute at all times. He spoke about exhausting yourself out, and made an appeal asking people to “sign out” for a bit to focus on things that truly matter to you.

The segment struck a chord with many, as millennial-trends and “arm-chair activism” has put people in a constant race to prove themselves to be “woke”, often at the cost of their mental health, burning themselves out.

While Minhaj has done well when it comes to highlighting issues globally, the NRC-CAA teaser-failure did turn out to be disappointing. With protesters across the country losing their lives, including an 8-year-old boy, the one minute tongue-in-cheek light-hearted comedy on the topic felt more insensitive than contributory to any cause. But do Indians expect too much out of an NRI host running a Netflix show? Perhaps, that’s another question we need to answer.