Mehdi Hasan: The Freedom to Speak

1. 0:00 – 1:49

   JCVD vs. Jason Statham debate

   1. MHMehdi Hasan0:00

      [upbeat music] Jean-Claude Van Damme, I mean, come on. He's no, he's no Jason Statham.

   2. TNTrevor Noah0:08

      Whoa.

   3. MHMehdi Hasan0:08

      Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

   4. TNTrevor Noah0:09

      [laughs] Are you kidding me?

   5. MHMehdi Hasan0:11

      Yo, what?

   6. TNTrevor Noah0:11

      Van Damme. JCVD-

   7. MHMehdi Hasan0:13

      There you go

   8. TNTrevor Noah0:13

      ... versus Jason Statham.

   9. MHMehdi Hasan0:14

      Okay.

   10. TNTrevor Noah0:14

       First of all-

   11. MHMehdi Hasan0:14

       Statham would kick his ass.

   12. TNTrevor Noah0:15

       My friend, okay.

   13. MHMehdi Hasan0:16

       [laughs] Never.

   14. TNTrevor Noah0:16

       Let me start, let me start by saying this.

   15. MHMehdi Hasan0:17

       Go on.

   16. TNTrevor Noah0:18

       You're stupid.

   17. MHMehdi Hasan0:19

       Okay. [laughs]

   18. TNTrevor Noah0:20

       Uh, secondly, secondly, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

   19. MHMehdi Hasan0:23

       Yeah.

   20. TNTrevor Noah0:24

       My friend, you-

   21. MHMehdi Hasan0:25

       I grew up watching Jean-Claude Van Damme

   22. TNTrevor Noah0:26

       ... you have the memory of a goldfish.

   23. MHMehdi Hasan0:27

       No, I didn't. I can tell you every film now.

   24. TNTrevor Noah0:29

       Mehdi Hasan.

   25. MHMehdi Hasan0:29

       Blood Sport.

   26. TNTrevor Noah0:29

       My friend.

   27. MHMehdi Hasan0:29

       I could watch Blood Sport again every day.

   28. TNTrevor Noah0:31

       There is no world-

   29. MHMehdi Hasan0:31

       Double Impact

   30. TNTrevor Noah0:32

       ... there is no world-
2. 1:49 – 3:04

   Language rules

   1. TNTrevor Noah1:49

      This is What Now? with Trevor Noah. [upbeat music]

   2. MHMehdi Hasan2:00

      [upbeat music] What's the, what's the language rules on this show?

   3. TNTrevor Noah2:05

      [laughs] Uh, w- you speak the language you speak.

   4. MHMehdi Hasan2:08

      Okay.

   5. TNTrevor Noah2:09

      [laughs]

   6. MHMehdi Hasan2:10

      How many languages do you speak?

   7. TNTrevor Noah2:11

      One and a half.

   8. MHMehdi Hasan2:12

      What's the half?

   9. TNTrevor Noah2:13

      Urdu.

   10. MHMehdi Hasan2:14

       Oh, okay. All right.

   11. TNTrevor Noah2:16

       We are known as the Urdu swearing podcast. [laughs]

   12. MHMehdi Hasan2:19

       Yeah, no, I, I, don't worry. You, uh, when you did your famous India, Pakistan dodgy accent-

   13. TNTrevor Noah2:23

       [laughs]

   14. MHMehdi Hasan2:23

       ... that was on every, every Indian WhatsApp group I was on got that clip. Don't worry. I remember it well.

   15. TNTrevor Noah2:28

       [laughs]

   16. MHMehdi Hasan2:30

       [laughs] You did like a Bollywood in the middle. You did like a Bolly-

   17. TNTrevor Noah2:32

       Oh, yeah

   18. MHMehdi Hasan2:33

       ... it was in the middle of a war.

   19. TNTrevor Noah2:33

       Yo, man, I got-

   20. MHMehdi Hasan2:34

       What did you do?

   21. TNTrevor Noah2:34

       ... got flamed for that.

   22. MHMehdi Hasan2:35

       He did, like in the middle of the war, they went, "Do, do, do," he did like a Bollywood breakout of the soldiers. He, like, mocked Indian, Pakistani soldiers doing Bollywood.

   23. TNTrevor Noah2:41

       No, no, no, no, no, I didn't-

   24. MHMehdi Hasan2:43

       Yeah, it was

   25. TNTrevor Noah2:43

       ... I didn't, didn't mock them. Mehdi, Mehdi.

   26. MHMehdi Hasan2:44

       What was it? I can't remember. It's on the tip of my brain.

   27. TNTrevor Noah2:45

       Come on, Mehdi, you, you are the man of facts, Mehdi.

   28. MHMehdi Hasan2:47

       Not anymore. I can't remember anything.

   29. TNTrevor Noah2:47

       You're the man. [laughs]

   30. MHMehdi Hasan2:49

       I have early onset dementia.
3. 3:04 – 4:00

   Starting your own thing: freedom vs. more work

   1. MHMehdi Hasan3:04

      5:00 train.

   2. TNTrevor Noah3:04

      Did you think you would work less or more when you started your own thing?

   3. MHMehdi Hasan3:08

      I thought I would work more. Not this much more.

   4. TNTrevor Noah3:11

      Well-

   5. MHMehdi Hasan3:11

      It's insanely more.

   6. TNTrevor Noah3:12

      Yeah, and I will say congratulations on all of your success-

   7. MHMehdi Hasan3:14

      Thank you very much

   8. TNTrevor Noah3:14

      ... Mehdi Hasan.

   9. MHMehdi Hasan3:14

      I appreciate it. Same to you.

   10. TNTrevor Noah3:16

       Does it feel like, uh, does it feel like freedom, or does it feel like a different kind of burden?

   11. MHMehdi Hasan3:20

       No, no, freedom.

   12. TNTrevor Noah3:21

       Yeah?

   13. MHMehdi Hasan3:21

       Always freedom. I love the freedom.

   14. TNTrevor Noah3:23

       Did you, did you ever see this for yourself?

   15. MHMehdi Hasan3:24

       Have we started?

   16. TNTrevor Noah3:25

       Yeah. What do you mean?

   17. MHMehdi Hasan3:26

       [laughs] Oh, I lo- I lo- I love this is the weirdest podcast I've ever done.

   18. TNTrevor Noah3:29

       Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

   19. MHMehdi Hasan3:31

       [laughs] I was like, "What is going on here?"

   20. TNTrevor Noah3:32

       This guy.

   21. MHMehdi Hasan3:33

       You just lulled me into it.

   22. TNTrevor Noah3:34

       I just, what do you mean lulled you?

   23. MHMehdi Hasan3:35

       What if I said something outrageous that I wasn't supposed to say? What if I wanted to say some shit?

   24. TNTrevor Noah3:39

       Say some shit.

   25. MHMehdi Hasan3:39

       Like is anyone on camera?

   26. TNTrevor Noah3:40

       So wait, so wait, wait, wait, let me understand this. So you, you, you don't-

   27. MHMehdi Hasan3:43

       No, not now. Now I'm all buttoned up.

   28. TNTrevor Noah3:44

       [laughs]

   29. MHMehdi Hasan3:44

       I'm ready to go.

   30. TNTrevor Noah3:45

       I see now. I see now.
4. 4:00 – 4:52

   Life after corporate media – saying what he wants

   1. TNTrevor Noah4:00

      So be free.

   2. MHMehdi Hasan4:00

      I'm free from corporate slavery, servitude, domination. I get to say whatever I want.

   3. TNTrevor Noah4:05

      [laughs]

   4. MHMehdi Hasan4:05

      I get to do whatever I want. I don't have to look over my shoulder. It is liberating.

   5. TNTrevor Noah4:10

      What do you think you couldn't say before that you can say now?

   6. MHMehdi Hasan4:14

      Lots of things. I can say, uh... I can say whatever I want. I can say-

   7. TNTrevor Noah4:17

      Yeah, but what, what couldn't you say before? Do you remember a specific thing where you were like, "Oh, damn, I couldn't say this before"?

   8. MHMehdi Hasan4:22

      Oh, I think, uh, well, if you know anything about corporate media, and you do because you worked in it as well, you know that it doesn't come down as a set of rules. It comes down as kind of, you know, maybe you shouldn't say-

   9. TNTrevor Noah4:32

      Suggestions

   10. MHMehdi Hasan4:33

       ... this or that. So, I mean, there are obviously rules.

   11. TNTrevor Noah4:34

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   12. MHMehdi Hasan4:34

       I went to NBC News, which has a very strong standards department, which I respect. I'm glad.

   13. TNTrevor Noah4:38

       Oh, no, that's different.

   14. MHMehdi Hasan4:38

       Yeah.

   15. TNTrevor Noah4:38

       Standards is different.

   16. MHMehdi Hasan4:40

       Standards are different.

   17. TNTrevor Noah4:40

       Yeah.

   18. MHMehdi Hasan4:40

       But then there's also, you know, things like, you know, you're not supposed to swear. That's obviously-

   19. TNTrevor Noah4:43

       Yeah, that, but I mean, that I can understand

   20. MHMehdi Hasan4:44

       ... and, and I understand that, too. But obviously, if you look at, for example, The New York Times.

   21. TNTrevor Noah4:47

       Yeah.

   22. MHMehdi Hasan4:48

       Intercept got hold of a memo at the early days of the genocide where they were saying,

5. 4:52 – 7:21

   What corporate media wouldn't let him say

   1. MHMehdi Hasan4:52

      "Don't say occupation. Don't say apartheid. Don't say genocide." This was their guidance to reporters, like that kind of bullshit. When I set up Zeteo in 2024-

   2. TNTrevor Noah4:59

      Yeah

   3. MHMehdi Hasan4:59

      ... the first thing I said was, "I get to say the G word, the F word, and the R word, genocide, fascism, and racism," which corporate media runs away from.

   4. TNTrevor Noah5:07

      Hm, they do.

   5. MHMehdi Hasan5:07

      You can't call Donald Trump a fa- racist. You don't know what's in his heart.

   6. TNTrevor Noah5:10

      [laughs]

   7. MHMehdi Hasan5:11

      Uh, you can't say it's a genocide. That's, that's a little, that's a little inflammatory, and even though every genocide scholar in the world pretty much now says it's a genocide. So this kind of crap, you know, fascism, I was one of the first people on MSNBC to say the F word August 2020. I was sitting in for Chris Hayes. It was the Portland protest, George Floyd protest.

   8. TNTrevor Noah5:27

      Yeah.

   9. MHMehdi Hasan5:27

      And I said, "We need to say fascism." And at the time, people, "Oh, this is hyperbolic. What are you talking about? He's not Hitler." Now it's kind of his own team have pretty much said he's a fascist.

   10. TNTrevor Noah5:36

       Yeah, but y- so here's what I think it is. I, I understand it, even though I don't agree with it most of the time. I think what happens is people don't understand that it's something that shifts. It's not something that happens.

   11. MHMehdi Hasan5:51

       What does-

   12. TNTrevor Noah5:51

       Does this make sense?

   13. MHMehdi Hasan5:51

       No.

   14. TNTrevor Noah5:52

       Fascism-

   15. MHMehdi Hasan5:52

       Oh

   16. TNTrevor Noah5:53

       ... or any of the... So everyone thinks that fascism happens overnight.

   17. MHMehdi Hasan5:56

       Yeah.

   18. TNTrevor Noah5:56

       Everyone thinks that even things like, uh, you know, take it out of politics Being broke or being an alcoholic or be- people think those things just happen overnight.

   19. MHMehdi Hasan6:06

       Yes.

   20. EUEugene6:06

       Mm.

   21. TNTrevor Noah6:06

       But it's a process. It's the one thing that leads to the next thing. It's the second drink, the third drink, the fifth drink. Two nights a week, three nights a week, four nights a week. So when you say it on night two of the person drinking, alcoholic, people are like, "Nah, Mehdi, Mehdi, Mehdi. Come on, man."

   22. MHMehdi Hasan6:19

       Fuck, yeah.

   23. TNTrevor Noah6:19

       "We don't use that word because that's hyperbolic."

   24. EUEugene6:22

       Not yet.

   25. TNTrevor Noah6:22

       Yes, but the problem is by the time you are using-

   26. MHMehdi Hasan6:24

       Too late

   27. TNTrevor Noah6:24

       ... by the time everyone agrees on the word-

   28. MHMehdi Hasan6:26

       Yes.

   29. EUEugene6:26

       Too late

   30. TNTrevor Noah6:26

       ... it's too late.
6. 7:21 – 12:18

   Calling out fascism, genocide & racism in the media

   1. MHMehdi Hasan7:21

      to be a dictator"

   2. TNTrevor Noah7:21

      ... I just realized that you're a Brit. I don't know why I didn't think of that before.

   3. MHMehdi Hasan7:24

      I'm British American now.

   4. TNTrevor Noah7:25

      No, no, but-

   5. MHMehdi Hasan7:25

      At the time I was a Brit, yes

   6. TNTrevor Noah7:26

      ... yeah, but what I'm saying is I don't even think of you as a Brit.

   7. MHMehdi Hasan7:28

      Why?

   8. TNTrevor Noah7:28

      I, I think you are-

   9. MHMehdi Hasan7:29

      Does my accent not give me away?

   10. EUEugene7:30

       Mm.

   11. TNTrevor Noah7:31

       No, I just think of you as Mehdi.

   12. MHMehdi Hasan7:32

       Okay. Unique nationality in the world.

   13. TNTrevor Noah7:35

       No. Okay, let me explain.

   14. MHMehdi Hasan7:36

       [laughs]

   15. TNTrevor Noah7:36

       Stop being a hater, Mehdi. I'm trying to explain something to you here. This guy's f- he's trying to fight me here, and I'm not trying to fight here.

   16. MHMehdi Hasan7:42

       I try my best.

   17. TNTrevor Noah7:42

       You get what I'm saying, Eugene?

   18. EUEugene7:43

       Yeah.

   19. TNTrevor Noah7:43

       You know, sometimes somebody becomes so, um, ubiquitous-

   20. MHMehdi Hasan7:48

       [laughs]

   21. TNTrevor Noah7:48

       ... that you don't think of them as being-

   22. EUEugene7:49

       I was thinking about innocuous. Mehdi.

   23. MHMehdi Hasan7:51

       [laughs]

   24. EUEugene7:51

       [laughs]

   25. TNTrevor Noah7:52

       You think ubiquitous is c- ubiquitous is not good.

   26. EUEugene7:54

       No.

   27. MHMehdi Hasan7:54

       Implications.

   28. TNTrevor Noah7:54

       What I me- what I mean is-

   29. MHMehdi Hasan7:55

       I remember

   30. TNTrevor Noah7:55

       ... is like, you, you... Someone starts to occupy a space just as themselves, and you don't think of them as being from somewhere or-
7. 12:18 – 14:06

   Fascism is a process, not an overnight event

   1. MHMehdi Hasan12:18

      Hasan and I just coming into the studio. I was like, "We gotta get this other guy out quickly."

   2. TNTrevor Noah12:22

      [laughs]

   3. MHMehdi Hasan12:23

      I remember, I just vividly, we're like, "Zora- Zoran Mamdani's out here."

   4. TNTrevor Noah12:25

      [laughs]

   5. MHMehdi Hasan12:25

      "Yeah, we'll do that first, and then Hasan's coming, Hasan's coming." And I re- you know, I had no idea at the time, and I told him this later bluntly to his face, I've said this to him, like, I, I thought I was doing you a favor. Who knew this guy would be a global sensation? And I kind of, in that first interview is when he said, "If Benjamin Netanyahu comes to New York, I'll have him arrested." I remember that. People went nuts at the time. Well, they didn't go nuts at the time because he was a nobody.

   6. TNTrevor Noah12:48

      Yeah.

   7. MHMehdi Hasan12:48

      But when he became big, that quote came back.

   8. TNTrevor Noah12:50

      It came back.

   9. MHMehdi Hasan12:50

      And it, it came back to the point where in the White House, Netanyahu's meeting Trump and a reporter says, "Zoran Mamdani says he'll arrest you," and Netanyahu's like, "Well, Trump will come with me to protect me in New York." Um, and I was like, wow. And he, and he kept getting asked about it, and he didn't back down from it. I mean, he pointed out that legally he can't do it, right?

   10. TNTrevor Noah13:04

       Yeah, yeah.

   11. MHMehdi Hasan13:04

       But the aspiration, he never backed away from that. And it's not just Israel. Multiple issues. You know, he ran on, like, free buses, childcare. He had a bunch of very clear policies.

   12. TNTrevor Noah13:13

       Yeah.

   13. MHMehdi Hasan13:13

       I've been waiting for a Democrat who can speak like a human, energize people, young people. It's not hard. I always make the example of Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton. What was Donald Trump's flagship slogans in 2016?

   14. TNTrevor Noah13:24

       Uh, build a wall.

   15. MHMehdi Hasan13:25

       Yeah. What else?

   16. TNTrevor Noah13:25

       And deport all Muslims.

   17. MHMehdi Hasan13:26

       Yeah. You remember, right?

   18. TNTrevor Noah13:26

       Yeah.

   19. MHMehdi Hasan13:26

       It was 11 years ago.

   20. TNTrevor Noah13:27

       Yeah, yeah.

   21. MHMehdi Hasan13:27

       You remember it like it was yesterday.

   22. TNTrevor Noah13:28

       Yeah.

   23. MHMehdi Hasan13:28

       What was Hillary Clinton's top slogans?

   24. TNTrevor Noah13:30

       I'm gonna break the glass ceiling.

   25. MHMehdi Hasan13:33

       I mean, look, nobody remembers what ... I mean, I'm sure she had an amazing 77-page childcare policy, but that's just how Democrats run. We're like, "We'll give you lots of stats and lots of proposals and lots of technocratic wonky solutions."

   26. TNTrevor Noah13:43

       Yeah, but Obama was, "Yes, we can."

   27. MHMehdi Hasan13:45

       Yes, we can.

   28. TNTrevor Noah13:45

       Which was inspirational.

   29. MHMehdi Hasan13:46

       Which was good.

   30. TNTrevor Noah13:46

       Yeah.
8. 14:06 – 17:47

   Is every US president destined to go to war?

   1. TNTrevor Noah14:06

      man, Donald Trump was fully anti-war.

   2. MHMehdi Hasan14:07

      Well, he pretended to be, yes.

   3. TNTrevor Noah14:08

      I don't even know if he pretended.

   4. MHMehdi Hasan14:09

      Yeah, 100% pretended.

   5. TNTrevor Noah14:10

      You think he pretended?

   6. MHMehdi Hasan14:11

      Oh, 100% pretended.

   7. TNTrevor Noah14:11

      No, man, I think he wasn't.

   8. MHMehdi Hasan14:13

      100% pretended.

   9. TNTrevor Noah14:13

      I think he was anti-war.

   10. MHMehdi Hasan14:14

       No.

   11. TNTrevor Noah14:14

       I think he was anti-war.

   12. MHMehdi Hasan14:14

       Based on what?

   13. TNTrevor Noah14:16

       Just because of everything he said. He was fully anti-war.

   14. MHMehdi Hasan14:17

       Wow. There was no-

   15. TNTrevor Noah14:18

       He said he was anti-war

   16. MHMehdi Hasan14:19

       ... there was no point where he was like, "I'm for this thing." Who cares? It's fucking Donald Trump. [laughs]

   17. TNTrevor Noah14:24

       No, but that's-

   18. MHMehdi Hasan14:24

       I can't believe your evidence for Donald Trump is-

   19. TNTrevor Noah14:25

       No, no, no. No, no, no

   20. MHMehdi Hasan14:26

       ... he said so.

   21. TNTrevor Noah14:26

       Mehdi, Mehdi, listen, listen. You see, here's where we're gonna have a disagreement.

   22. MHMehdi Hasan14:29

       Yes, please.

   23. TNTrevor Noah14:30

       You're making it seem like the man does not exist anywhere doing anything and has no opinion about anything. I'm saying there's some things I believe that he believed, and I think-

   24. MHMehdi Hasan14:40

       E.g., not going to war

   25. TNTrevor Noah14:40

       ... I genuinely think that man-

   26. MHMehdi Hasan14:41

       Even though in his first term he did lots of war.

   27. TNTrevor Noah14:43

       He did not ... That man-

   28. MHMehdi Hasan14:45

       Yeah

   29. TNTrevor Noah14:45

       ... do you remember when he launched, like, one missile, this is crazy, where he launched, like, I think it was, like, one missile at, uh, towards Syria or in that region?

   30. MHMehdi Hasan14:51

       Yes. I was eating chocolate cake, and it was great. [laughs]
9. 17:47 – 18:01

   Was Trump ever really anti-war?

   1. MHMehdi Hasan17:47

      Yes. Yes. I moved to the United States of America in March of 2015. He came down that golden escalator in May of 2015. So my entire period in this country-

   2. TNTrevor Noah17:56

      Yeah

   3. MHMehdi Hasan17:56

      ... has been dominated by this orange freak, in my private life, my public life, my waking

10. 18:01 – 22:11

    Mehdi moves to America & Trump's golden escalator

    1. MHMehdi Hasan18:01

       hours, my sleeping hours. I thought we'd got rid of him in 2021, and then he comes back again. I just can't get away from him.

    2. TNTrevor Noah18:07

       But what, but what I say is-

    3. MHMehdi Hasan18:08

       Literally, as, as I, I, you know, I'm a Muslim, I'm an immigrant, I'm a journalist, every aspect of my identity intertwined with his.

    4. TNTrevor Noah18:12

       Oh, yeah, it's fully-

    5. MHMehdi Hasan18:13

       Hate targets

    6. TNTrevor Noah18:13

       ... it's, it's ... There's no, there's no part of you that can escape it in a way.

    7. MHMehdi Hasan18:15

       No, I just switch off and have a holiday, and I won't think about him, or I'll hang out with my kids, but my kids are Muslim American kids who have to grow up in this country with Trump as president.

    8. TNTrevor Noah18:21

       What moved you to the US?

    9. MHMehdi Hasan18:23

       A couple of things. One is just journalism opportunities-

    10. TNTrevor Noah18:27

        Yeah

    11. MHMehdi Hasan18:27

        ... greater here, I thought. And secondly is my wife is American, and a happy wife is a happy life.

    12. TNTrevor Noah18:31

        Oh, nice. Okay.

    13. MHMehdi Hasan18:32

        Yeah.

    14. TNTrevor Noah18:32

        So where did you guys meet?

    15. MHMehdi Hasan18:33

        We met in California.

    16. TNTrevor Noah18:35

        Nice.

    17. MHMehdi Hasan18:35

        Yeah.

    18. TNTrevor Noah18:36

        Were you just here on a vacation?

    19. MHMehdi Hasan18:37

        We-

    20. TNTrevor Noah18:37

        Was it like a-

    21. MHMehdi Hasan18:37

        Yeah, yeah, I was on v- I d- a lot of vacation. I have a lot of friends and family in America. She moved to the UK, right? So the first half of our marriage she lived in the UK, and she was like, "When are we moving to the US?" And I was like, "What am I gonna do in the US? I'm a Brown left-wing Muslim. Who's gonna hire me?" Right? So when I ended up working at the HuffPost, which was owned by Arianna Huffington at the time-

    22. TNTrevor Noah18:57

        Yeah

    23. MHMehdi Hasan18:57

        ... AOL.

    24. TNTrevor Noah18:58

        Yeah.

    25. MHMehdi Hasan18:58

        It was like an American company. So I was like, "All right. Let's see if I can make a shift."

    26. TNTrevor Noah19:02

        Yeah.

    27. MHMehdi Hasan19:02

        So I ended up here in 2015 thinking, "I'll be here for t- a couple years." That was the agreement. I'll come here for a couple years-

    28. TNTrevor Noah19:06

        That's what everyone says. Yeah

    29. MHMehdi Hasan19:07

        ... I'm a, I'm a cover the Hillary Clinton presidency.

    30. TNTrevor Noah19:11

        Best laid plans. Now, I d- I am not a fan of blaming people for things that m- most would argue are out of their control.
11. 22:11 – 24:23

    Being consumed by Trump as a Muslim immigrant

    1. MHMehdi Hasan22:11

       so my dad was very political all his life. He moved to the UK in 1966 and was obsessed with British politics.

    2. TNTrevor Noah22:16

       Yeah? Hmm.

    3. MHMehdi Hasan22:16

       He was obsessed with British prime ministers, the Labour Party. He was obviously obsessed with Indian politics. So I grew up around him talking about politics, hearing about politics, watching the news. The news was on 24/7 in our house.

    4. TNTrevor Noah22:26

       Okay.

    5. MHMehdi Hasan22:26

       Um, so when I ended up being on the news as a host, like, for my dad, it was, like, amazing. Most Indian parents were kind of disowning any child who became a journalist or a doctor.

    6. TNTrevor Noah22:33

       Yeah, doctor, lawyer, engineer.

    7. MHMehdi Hasan22:35

       Yeah. You can't be a journalist.

    8. TNTrevor Noah22:36

       Yeah.

    9. MHMehdi Hasan22:36

       Um, and my sister and I both end up as journalists. And, uh, my mother-

    10. TNTrevor Noah22:39

        Your sister as well?

    11. MHMehdi Hasan22:39

        Yeah. My mother is not happy about this.

    12. TNTrevor Noah22:42

        Hmm.

    13. MHMehdi Hasan22:42

        My mother is a doctor. My father is a engineer-

    14. TNTrevor Noah22:44

        Oh

    15. MHMehdi Hasan22:44

        ... like a classic Indian couple. And my mother to this day is like, "Stop talking about Trump. Why don't you go be a lawyer or do something different? If you want to argue-

    16. TNTrevor Noah22:50

        Why don't you make something of yourself?

    17. MHMehdi Hasan22:51

        "Why don't you make something of yourself? Why don't you be a lawyer? If you want to argue, be a lawyer." That's what she used to say to me, um, when I say used to say to me, like yesterday morning. Um-

    18. TNTrevor Noah22:59

        [laughs]

    19. MHMehdi Hasan22:59

        So she hasn't given up. But my father was very proud of the fact that I was a journalist doing journalism, politics. He loved it. He loved ... Even, uh, he passed away last year, but even to-

    20. TNTrevor Noah23:08

        I'm so sorry, man

    21. MHMehdi Hasan23:09

        ... th- thank you. Even to his last days, any time we spoke, he'd be like, "Are they really gonna run Joe Biden again? Really?" So-

    22. TNTrevor Noah23:16

        So you, you f- you basically found yourself in his, like, this was, like, his league. You know? It's like, it's the Premier League or the NFL or the NBA of his w-

    23. MHMehdi Hasan23:25

        Yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah23:25

        You found-

    25. MHMehdi Hasan23:26

        Yes.

    26. TNTrevor Noah23:26

        But it, but it, it ... Correct me if I'm wrong, it seems then that the two of you ... It probably brings back good memories for you then.

    27. MHMehdi Hasan23:34

        Yes.

    28. TNTrevor Noah23:34

        Because, because most people would've gone away from politics if it didn't bring back good memories. Does that make sense?

    29. MHMehdi Hasan23:40

        Yeah, no, but it was a great bonding moment for us.

    30. TNTrevor Noah23:41

        But that's what I'm ... No, we didn't talk about Liverpool. My dad wasn't a football fan.
12. 24:23 – 26:00

    What brought Mehdi to the US

    1. TNTrevor Noah24:23

       The Satanic Verses.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan24:24

       Mm-hmm.

    3. TNTrevor Noah24:24

       Right? Muslims go crazy. It's a blasphemous book. It's insulting the Prophet, which it did. Um, Ayatollah Khomeini-

    4. MHMehdi Hasan24:30

       So that was, that was the one, they ... That's where the Khomeini-

    5. TNTrevor Noah24:31

       The, the fatwa

    6. MHMehdi Hasan24:32

       ... the fatwa on him.

    7. TNTrevor Noah24:32

       That he should be-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan24:33

       Yes, yeah

    9. TNTrevor Noah24:33

       ... executed for b- ... And at the time, people in-

    10. MHMehdi Hasan24:35

        Do you know the story, Eugene?

    11. TNTrevor Noah24:36

        Hmm. Oh, yeah. Tell, please tell the story, 'cause a lot of people I don't think just know it.

    12. MHMehdi Hasan24:38

        So Salman Rushdie, very famous Indian British novelist, uh, award-winning novelist, writes a, a novel which is kind of fictionalized version of some Islamic history as he understood it, in which the Prophet is portrayed in horrific ways as a baddie.

    13. TNTrevor Noah24:52

        Mm-hmm.

    14. MHMehdi Hasan24:52

        And Muslims being very sensitive got very, very upset, to the point where at the time the ayatollah in Iran, the supreme leader of Iran then, uh, Ayatollah Khomeini, put out a very famous fatwa saying the punishment is death for this kind of writing. Rushdie had to go into hiding. He's still today... I mean, he got attacked a few years ago-

    15. TNTrevor Noah25:08

        Yeah, he got stabbed

    16. MHMehdi Hasan25:09

        ... again. Uh, so it's never gone away, even after the death of Khomeini. And a lot of Muslims burned the book, even in, even in UK town-

    17. TNTrevor Noah25:16

        Mm-hmm

    18. MHMehdi Hasan25:16

        ... not just in the Middle East.

    19. TNTrevor Noah25:17

        In protest, yeah.

    20. MHMehdi Hasan25:17

        So it was a huge controversy, and Muslims, uh, then got attacked, of course, by Western politicians. You people are so backward and barbaric, and look at you, you don't believe in free speech. And my dad, in the midst of all this, late '80s, I'm like 10 years old. My dad buys The Satanic Verses, reads it, and then puts it on the bookshelf right by the dining table. So every time we have people over-

    21. TNTrevor Noah25:36

        Mm. Mm. Mm

    22. MHMehdi Hasan25:37

        ... they're like, "What is going on?" They're furious. All my dad's friends are furious. "Why have you got this book here? Why would you have it?" And my dad would say, "Have you read it? And if you haven't read it, how can you be mad about it?" And that mentality, which was very provocative [laughs] in the Muslim community-

    23. TNTrevor Noah25:52

        Wow

    24. MHMehdi Hasan25:52

        ... is something that I remember vividly. This idea that you shouldn't just blindly follow the crowd, you shouldn't just take what's given to you from on high. You've got to

13. 26:00 – 32:41

    Liverpool FC & the brown Muslim football fan pipeline

    1. MHMehdi Hasan26:00

       question everything, no matter how sacred.

    2. TNTrevor Noah26:06

       Did you read The Satanic Verses?

    3. MHMehdi Hasan26:08

       No comment. [laughs]

    4. TNTrevor Noah26:10

       [laughs]

    5. MHMehdi Hasan26:10

       I did, I did.

    6. TNTrevor Noah26:11

       And?

    7. MHMehdi Hasan26:11

       It's awful, but at least you read it. Like, I mean, I, I didn't read it as a piece of fic- literature. What do I know about literature? Salman Rushdie's an award-winning novelist. I'm not. And that's not the point. The point was, was it historically accurate? Was it offensive? All of that stuff. But the point is, obviously, I don't support, obviously, killing people for their views, obviously. Um, but I understood at the time, I, I understood why it had become such a wedge issue. You want to talk about culture wars today, I mean, that was a culture war issue-

    8. TNTrevor Noah26:35

       Yeah, that was-

    9. MHMehdi Hasan26:35

       ... back in the day

    10. TNTrevor Noah26:36

        ... that was viral before viral.

    11. MHMehdi Hasan26:37

        Exactly, yeah. Pre-internet, pre-days. Um, and you know, that's... And then it obviously gets rolled into everything else that then happens in the subsequent decades in the relation between Islam and the West.

    12. TNTrevor Noah26:46

        I love that you were encouraged to argue and debate by your parents. I think-

    13. MHMehdi Hasan26:50

        Yeah, because a lot of Indian parents are like, "Shut up."

    14. TNTrevor Noah26:52

        No, I mean a lot of parents in general-

    15. MHMehdi Hasan26:54

        Chappal

    16. TNTrevor Noah26:54

        ... especially-

    17. MHMehdi Hasan26:54

        You heard the phrase chappal?

    18. TNTrevor Noah26:55

        No. What is that?

    19. MHMehdi Hasan26:56

        So in the Pak culture, anyone watching here speaks Urdu know what it means. Chappal means I'm gonna get my sandal. Chappal is a sandal.

    20. TNTrevor Noah27:02

        Oh, it's done.

    21. MHMehdi Hasan27:02

        That's just like, chappal. You're gonna get-

    22. TNTrevor Noah27:05

        I actually... You've just taught me a new one now. Thank you so much.

    23. MHMehdi Hasan27:07

        Yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah27:08

        Chappal.

    25. MHMehdi Hasan27:08

        Watch your, watch your is the chappal.

    26. TNTrevor Noah27:09

        Chappal. I'm in.

    27. MHMehdi Hasan27:10

        And you remember-

    28. TNTrevor Noah27:11

        I've got it for you, Genius.

    29. MHMehdi Hasan27:12

        My, my [laughs]

    30. TNTrevor Noah27:12

        Chappal. Every time you say something anti-Liverpool, chappal right now.
14. 32:41 – 38:21

    Zoran Mamdani: the anti-war left-wing candidate

    1. TNTrevor Noah32:41

       No, you, but you can't not be.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan32:43

       I'm a bit spongy.

    3. TNTrevor Noah32:43

       With, with my gran- think about it, Eugen-

    4. MHMehdi Hasan32:45

       Mm

    5. TNTrevor Noah32:45

       ... you as Eugene, the way you speak to us here-

    6. MHMehdi Hasan32:46

       But people attempt it though. Yeah

    7. TNTrevor Noah32:47

       ... no, you c- this is what people don't understand. People like to think of it as switch- I think this is an academic use-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan32:55

       Mm-hmm

    9. TNTrevor Noah32:55

       ... of, of a, you know, an academic understanding. Oh, you're code switching. No. If you have ever lived in multilingual cultures-

    10. MHMehdi Hasan33:03

        Mm-hmm

    11. TNTrevor Noah33:03

        ... you have to learn how to speak different languages-

    12. MHMehdi Hasan33:05

        Yeah

    13. TNTrevor Noah33:05

        ... to different people, even in the same language.

    14. MHMehdi Hasan33:07

        To other people, yes.

    15. TNTrevor Noah33:07

        So if you think about it, the Zulu that you would speak with your friends-

    16. MHMehdi Hasan33:11

        Mm-hmm

    17. TNTrevor Noah33:11

        ... is not the Zulu you would speak to your grandmother.

    18. MHMehdi Hasan33:13

        Mm.

    19. TNTrevor Noah33:14

        Even though it's still Zulu.

    20. MHMehdi Hasan33:15

        Well-

    21. TNTrevor Noah33:16

        The way you would say the words, the way you would-

    22. MHMehdi Hasan33:17

        Yeah

    23. TNTrevor Noah33:17

        ... the, your, your inferences-

    24. MHMehdi Hasan33:19

        I wouldn't put certain t- yeah, words, yeah

    25. TNTrevor Noah33:19

        ... your accent, the, the-

    26. MHMehdi Hasan33:21

        Well-

    27. TNTrevor Noah33:21

        ... even, even your tone has to change completely. So what I'm saying is sometimes people take for granted that anyone who's grown up in a world where there are multiple languages learns how to speak the language of the people they're speaking to.

    28. MHMehdi Hasan33:32

        Yeah.

    29. TNTrevor Noah33:32

        It's, it's not just, like, being, uh, that's why I say, like, when people say, like, "Oh, you're code switching," it's like, yeah, on an academic level, I understand that.

    30. MHMehdi Hasan33:39

        Yeah, yeah.
15. 38:21 – 40:46

    Why Democrats keep losing the messaging war

    1. MHMehdi Hasan38:21

       shouldn't even bind the people still in mainstream media, I would argue. It's killing our mainstream media right now, 'cause people are fed up with being patronized by people who pretend that they're b- neutral or impartial, when we- Mm-hmm ... can clearly see they're not. I would rather have... You know, uh, there was a moment recently where Brendan Carr, who runs Donald Trump's FCC, he's like a censorship czar- Yeah ... he was at a media conference, I think it was the Semafor Conference in DC. Somebody started sending me clips saying, "Brendan Carr is talking about you." I was like, "You don't wanna be talked about by Trump censorship. You don't, you don't wanna be on that radar." Right. And I tune in, and somebody sends me the clip, and I watch it, and he's basically complaining that lots of lib- lots of mainstream journalists have left the media, and then now they're all like- Mm ... anti-Trump. And he's like, "See? See? We told you the media was biased against Trump." And then he goes, "At least with Mehdi Hasan, he hates Trump, but I like him, 'cause I know where I stand with him. He's very open about his biases, and then you can just read or watch whatever he does." And I was like, "A, that's a good point." [laughs] "B, I gotta take a shower now." [laughs] "C, I don't really wanna be on Brendan Carr's radar, 'cause I'm very happy with my life here, and I don't wanna be deported." So that's... So, you know, that, there's that thing where there is this sense of now people are in independent spaces, we're seeing their real colors, whatever it is. But my position has always been I would rather people put their biases on the table- Yeah ... and then just be fair, right? So when I do an interview, when I have a Trump person on, or I have a Israeli person, or I have someone who I disagree with from whatever government in the world, someone from the Saudi, someone, whatever it is, the, the... Everyone knows I'm critical of them. Right. Right. But I still try and be fair. I try and... I don't try and edit them in a bad way. I make sure they get enough time to speak and answer. I don't try and lie about, you know, the, in the quest- That, for me, is more important. That, for me, is fairness. Not this fake left, right, pick a point in the middle, and say, "I'm impartial." That bullshit's gotta go. No one accepts that anymore. It was never real to begin with. It's now become very apparent that there is no kind of fake impart... The view from nowhere they teach you at journal- journalism schools. You're outside the frame. That's, that's, in the UK, that's like a, that was, like, a big one. I think it's even bigger in the US, to be honest. No. US journalism schools, yes. No way. Yes. Mehdi, no way. Yes. Maybe the BBC. Yes, the BBC. Okay. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. Okay. The BBC. But the US journalism schools just churn out people saying stuff like this, and I think it's gotta end now. Okay. Okay, got it. And, you know, it's... Well, the BB- America and Britain have this role reversal, right? So in the UK, we have very, very impartial media, very, very heavily reg... We don't take a position. We're not tabloid. We're not sensationalist. And then you have all these really tabloidy newspapers. Really, really outspoken, provocative. The Sun, and The Mail, and all of that stuff. Yeah, that's true. Okay. And in the US, it's the reverse. You have all these crazy cable channels,

16. 40:46 – 45:27

    Is any US president truly anti-war?

    1. MHMehdi Hasan40:46

       opinionated fire, you know, you know, uh, outspoken firebrands on, on cable and on TV, and then you have, like, really pla- really sta- New York Times, The Washington Post, very boring headlines. Very, we must keep our impartiality. So it's a weird reversal. But I feel like- I've always found- ... I feel like this world is more, i- it's... I, I could be wrong, but I, I feel like it suits you more. Like, you, you strike me as, like, a Wild West kinda guy. Yeah. It was, uh, it was weird that I ended up at MSNBC, to be honest. Yeah. When I was at Al Jazeera, where I was before, and I also wrote for The Intercept, people would say to me, 'cause I'd lived in the US for a few years, I'd gone viral a lot, uh, I turned up on The Daily Show with your good self, I remember, and people were saying to me at the time, "Oh, it's only a matter of time till CNN or MSNBC hire you." And I was like, "Don't be silly. Why would they hire me?" Yeah, yeah. "I don't fit that persona. I don't do what the other hosts do. They're never gonna hire someone like me." And then I was wrong. To be fair, MSNBC, Phil Griffin, who was president at the time, did come and offer me a job, and I had three and a half very successful, fun years there, uh, running my mouth. So in that sense- Running my mouth. Running- Is that a Britishism? No, no, no, I just liked it. I just liked that you said that. Running my mouth. It's what I do. I run my mouth. That's all I do in life. Is like no other skills in life. That's not true, man. That's not true. It is. You, you, you- Okay ... you're, you're an informer. You- For the police. [laughs] Oh. I, I knew there was something. That's funny weird. You know this guy in there, Werner? You c- Just when I think I couldn't love you anymore ... one thing a journalist never does- Just when I thought I couldn't love you anymore ... just never reveals their sources. [laughs] Yeah. You can't run your mouth and your sources. Journalism 101. No, but you don't... No, but I, but this is what I mean. I think, I think you are, um, like many British people, you will, you will, um, you'll try and, uh, dampen your, your achievements or what you do. Like, British people are very quick to be like, "I d- I do. I, I, I..." [laughs] And then you're like, "But you're the King of England." [laughs] "No, please, I, I just wear a, wear a crown sometimes. Fa, fa, fa, fa, fa." That's true. Do you know what I mean? That's, that's- Americans are much more- Yeah. No. You, you, you do, like, you, you do a shit ton of research. I don't think I know many more people who just know stats off the top of their head the way you do. Like, you, do you- I, I, I'm old now- Did you study like this? ... so I forget a few. Did you- No. 'Cause you- I mean- When you say study like this- No, I mean like this ... when, when, when you were a kid- Because- When you were a kid ... because- Did you r- did you remember everything in school? Were you able to- Yes, I had a very good memory as a kid. Yeah, you can recall information- Not anymore. Now I'm old and gray. But my, like, my daughter has a very good memory, has inherited that. Yeah. When I was young, yes, I had a very good memory. I could have rem- I could remember, you know, you know, put things on a table, I could remember it. Names, places. Yeah. Even today, I still remember obscure... Like, my wife will make fun of me that I will forget kids' birthdays, but I'll remember when the Six-Day War was in 1967. Damn. So that kind of random stuff is still in here. I have too much shit in here. You know, it's Sherlock Holmes, like, "The mind palace." [laughs] "You must clear things out." Like, I don't clear shit out. [laughs] So that's why I'm now in a situation where I can't remember, like, friends' names and stuff. But I can tell you, you know, which British- You should name your friends ... president was assassinated in 1900. Yeah, you should then name your friends after, like, major tragedies. Brother for days. Yeah, name your friends after tragedies in history- Yeah ... and then you'll never forget them. And then just tell them it's, like, your nickname for them. No, but I, but look, I also now do have to do a lot of prep. So I told you, I mentioned I wrote this book, and there's a chapter in the book on preparation. I do try and make it clear, especially to young people, 'cause they ask me this question, especially budding journalists, like, "How do you do what you do?" Like, I don't wing it. People think you wing things. And I- I don't think you wing anything This one I'm winging, 'cause I walked into this conversation with no prep.

    2. TNTrevor Noah43:58

       That's, that's the way.

    3. MHMehdi Hasan43:59

       Normally I'd be like, "What's Trevor gonna ask me?"

    4. TNTrevor Noah44:00

       That's the-

    5. MHMehdi Hasan44:00

       And I'll be ready, and I'll, and I, I walked in-

    6. TNTrevor Noah44:02

       There's no ready-

    7. MHMehdi Hasan44:02

       ... blind

    8. TNTrevor Noah44:03

       ... there's no ready at all

    9. MHMehdi Hasan44:03

       I didn't even know you were gonna be here.

    10. TNTrevor Noah44:04

        That's-

    11. MHMehdi Hasan44:05

        So [laughs]

    12. TNTrevor Noah44:05

        ... that's how we surprise you. Yeah, yeah.

    13. MHMehdi Hasan44:07

        I didn't even know when we started.

    14. TNTrevor Noah44:08

        Bam.

    15. EUEugene44:10

        [laughs]

    16. MHMehdi Hasan44:10

        Um, here we go.

    17. TNTrevor Noah44:10

        That's what we're doing.

    18. MHMehdi Hasan44:11

        Yeah, see, you got me.

    19. TNTrevor Noah44:11

        Mehdi Hasan caught off guard.

    20. MHMehdi Hasan44:13

        Ambushed, ambushed.

    21. EUEugene44:14

        [laughs]

    22. MHMehdi Hasan44:14

        So normally I prep a lot.

    23. TNTrevor Noah44:14

        That's what we're gonna put here, Mehdi Hasan ambushed.

    24. EUEugene44:17

        [laughs]

    25. TNTrevor Noah44:17

        And we're gonna play that clip for, "I didn't even know what you guys were gonna ask me."

    26. MHMehdi Hasan44:20

        [laughs]

    27. TNTrevor Noah44:20

        "I can't believe you guys said this shit about me."

    28. MHMehdi Hasan44:21

        Who are you?

    29. TNTrevor Noah44:22

        Yeah, there. [laughs]

    30. MHMehdi Hasan44:22

        You look different from when we were on The Daily Show. Where did the hair come from?
17. 45:27 – 52:51

    When Mehdi started saying "we" about America

    1. TNTrevor Noah45:27

       for the record.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan45:27

       That's a good point.

    3. TNTrevor Noah45:27

       This is my opinion, 100%. I believe when you forgive-

    4. MHMehdi Hasan45:31

       Mm-hmm

    5. TNTrevor Noah45:31

       ... your brain or something happens in your mind, and you're more likely to forget, is my opinion.

    6. MHMehdi Hasan45:36

       No, that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

    7. TNTrevor Noah45:37

       And so I find-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan45:37

       But what if you can't?

    9. TNTrevor Noah45:38

       I find people, generally people who have amazing memories like this generally struggle to forgive.

    10. MHMehdi Hasan45:46

        It is a problem that I do remember things that I should just let go.

    11. TNTrevor Noah45:49

        Right.

    12. MHMehdi Hasan45:49

        That is a problem. Just everything, personal, professional, political. I mean, it actually helps me in my journalism because the number one problem in this country is people have short memories, and that's why people in power get away with shit. Donald Trump.

    13. TNTrevor Noah45:58

        Absolutely.

    14. MHMehdi Hasan45:58

        I gave you an example about the war thing. "Oh, he's anti-war." Then I have to remind people, "Okay, remember what happened between 2017 and 2021?" No, 'cause we all forgot it. I spent all of 2024 listening to Americans tell me, "Ah, you know what? If Donald Trump comes back, we survived him once. We can survive him again." No, we fucking didn't survive him. Half a million people died from COVID. But you've forgotten that, right? 'Cause Americans have the memories of goldfish. Like, eight seconds, nine seconds, done.

    15. TNTrevor Noah46:18

        You know-

    16. MHMehdi Hasan46:19

        And I think-

    17. TNTrevor Noah46:19

        ... goldfish actually have good memories

    18. MHMehdi Hasan46:20

        ... do they? It's a myth?

    19. TNTrevor Noah46:21

        Yeah, this is-

    20. MHMehdi Hasan46:21

        It's an urban legend?

    21. TNTrevor Noah46:22

        ... this is a myth

    22. MHMehdi Hasan46:22

        Should have fact-checked that-

    23. TNTrevor Noah46:22

        We should check it now

    24. MHMehdi Hasan46:23

        ... before I put it in the book.

    25. TNTrevor Noah46:24

        But we should check it now.

    26. MHMehdi Hasan46:24

        I put it in my book.

    27. TNTrevor Noah46:25

        We should check it-

    28. MHMehdi Hasan46:25

        It's too late

    29. TNTrevor Noah46:25

        ... right now.

    30. MHMehdi Hasan46:26

        It's in a, it's in a book two years old.
18. 52:51 – 1:04:22

    Mehdi's family background & how he got into journalism

    1. MHMehdi Hasan52:51

       an immigrant, moved to another country. Why can't I?" Nah, I think she's just anti-American. But what do you love so much about America, though? Uh, many things. Mm-hmm. Tell me. I'm here for it. All right. I love- America, Eugene loves America. Mm. So he's just asking for you to validate him. Well, you've only been here two days as well, this guy. Hey. Um, I- Best two days of my life. [laughs] I, uh... What do I love about America? Yeah. I love the, I love the sh- sheer space. Yeah. I love the fact that it's a big country. I love that flying to California is like flying to London. I love that. I love that this is a country, continent. Um, I love the fact that you go to different states, I travel a lot for work, and every state you go to is like a little mini country with its own kind of people- Mm ... problems, issues. Oh, great. I love that. I'm all about diversity. I'm, no, sorry, sorry, right-wingers, I love my diversity, my DEI. Um, so- [laughs] ... I love the fact that people are different wherever you go in this country. That's a, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. I love the food. I'm a foodie. I love junk food. I love American junk food and fast food. I'm not a snob. I love the shit stuff. Mm. Like, I was b- I was born from... I was at, I was at movie cinema last night, and I ordered a milkshake. It was- What did you watch? Uh, I watched Mandalorian and Grogu. Is it good? Are you a Star Wars fan? Yeah, I'm, I love- Who isn't? ... Mandalorian. Lots of people are not Star Wars fans. No. Okay, no, then I, I'm, I, then I would be careful then. I would say that I- If you're not a Star Wars fan, you probably won't love it. No, no, no. D- you no, this is why- I love it ... this is why I'm careful. So sometimes when people say, "Are you a fan of something?" Mm. They just mean, "Do you like it?" In fact, in general, I, I- Like are you into it? No, it means do you think about it? I'm... No, no, no. So you- It means on May the fourth. Do I say May the fourth be with you? Yes. Yes, but not as like a, like I have to. Or like that you- I just like that people have said that. No, no, no, no, no. I- Look, to answer your question, I love the TV show. Yes. It's hard to convert TV shows into movies. Yes. So to me- The Star Wars didn't work as a m- ... it's a movie ... it's a movie. Yeah, they made it a, it was- But it's doing very well at the box office ... nothing, it doesn't suck. It was doing well at the box office. It doesn't suck. It's good, but it's not great, and it could've been better. But I love the show and I love Pedro Pascal, so I went to watch it. But I ordered a milkshake. Yeah? And it came. It's a cl- I just thought, I love it. There were moments I was like, "I love America." Did it come in the Grogu cup? No, it didn't. Oh. But it came in a fucking huge cup. And I was like, "This is what I love." Well, first time I went back to England- Yeah ... when I realized I'm an American, I went back to England, I was doing my show for Al Jazeera, went to a cafe across from the filming, I ordered a brownie. Yeah. And this tiny little piece of shit came on the plate. [laughs] And I was like, "What is this?" I was like, "Oh, I'm in England." [laughs] And that's when I was like, "I'm American." What about the generally sunny disposition? Do, do you find- No, that I don't like. You don't like that? No, that, I'm very British. Do you, do you still have- American hat off, British hat on. O- okay. I'm, that, I, that, I, I don't wanna talk to you unnecessarily. I, I wanna keep my head down. I'm the guy on the t- the Tube- Yeah ... in the UK. You mind your own business, you keep your head down, you don't engage. Not, not- And New York is a little bit like that as well ... not giving people directions. No. Not- No. New Yorkers- Unnecessary chitchat. Here's a- No, "Have a nice day." Here's the thing people get wrong about New Yorkers, though. New Yorkers mind their own business. Yeah. Right? And because it's a fast pace, people will be like, "New Yorkers are not friendly." I, I, I don't agree with that. No, no. I just think New Yorkers understand that everyone's trying to get somewhere and go somewhere. Yes. So you can't be just stopping everyone, "Hey, how you doing? What, how's your life?" Yeah. You're interrupting people's lives. But if you wanna see how good New Yorkers are, do something wrong and they will very quickly correct you- Yes ... and help you. No, so, so- Like go, like say out loud, "Ah, I'm going s- you know, to Queens and I'm gonna take the whatever, the F train." Someone will be like, "No, no, hey, hey, hey, hey. Wrong, the wrong train." Yeah. [laughs] They'll be like, "No, don't-" To go back to your point about sunny disposition, if you mean, like, kind of department store, "Have a nice day," that annoys me. I love that. But if... You love it, okay, I'm not a fan. Um, but if you mean kind of sunny disposition as in- What's my world? My world is politics. If you mean kind of Barack Obama, Zoran Mamdani, inspiring speech, tear-jerking, I love that stuff.

    2. TNTrevor Noah56:16

       Okay, so you like that part?

    3. MHMehdi Hasan56:17

       Yeah, like, I'm the guy who watched West Wing, and I... Corny West Wing. Like, people make fun of people like me. I loved the West Wing. I'm that guy. I apologize. I know people hate The West Wing.

    4. TNTrevor Noah56:24

       No, what do you mean? You don't have to apologize.

    5. MHMehdi Hasan56:25

       Nobody watches West Wing now.

    6. TNTrevor Noah56:26

       Yeah, but I mean, we don't-

    7. MHMehdi Hasan56:27

       But I, I love that sort of-

    8. TNTrevor Noah56:27

       Why, why do we have to, why do we have to apologize for it?

    9. MHMehdi Hasan56:29

       The British political, the b- that, that, that British political cynicism, no, I'm not a fan of. I prefer the American-

    10. TNTrevor Noah56:33

        Okay, so you've taken-

    11. MHMehdi Hasan56:34

        Hope-filled-

    12. TNTrevor Noah56:34

        So you've taken on the, the general optimism.

    13. MHMehdi Hasan56:36

        Yes.

    14. TNTrevor Noah56:36

        That's, that's the thing you love about America?

    15. MHMehdi Hasan56:38

        A democratic optimism.

    16. TNTrevor Noah56:38

        I'm with you. I'm with you. But then when it comes to, like, the niceties and the dates-

    17. MHMehdi Hasan56:41

        Yeah, then I'm, I'm just a Brit-

    18. TNTrevor Noah56:42

        You don't care for that at all

    19. MHMehdi Hasan56:43

        ... I'm, I'm still a Brit. I'm still a Brit there. It's like I can't be fake.

    20. TNTrevor Noah56:46

        Do you have the, the fake apologetic thing that British people have?

    21. MHMehdi Hasan56:49

        Uh, I'm not sure. That's a good question. You'd have to ask someone else. [laughs] Do I? I don't.

    22. TNTrevor Noah56:54

        You're not British.

    23. MHMehdi Hasan56:54

        Yes, I do. I apologize all the time.

    24. TNTrevor Noah56:56

        No, I'm asking. I'm asking if he has it still. That's all.

    25. MHMehdi Hasan57:00

        I, I'm not sure. I don't know the answer to that question. You'd have to ask people around me.

    26. TNTrevor Noah57:05

        So you're fully in then? This is like, this-

    27. MHMehdi Hasan57:07

        I'm fully in till I get deported. I'm fully in. [laughs]

    28. TNTrevor Noah57:09

        Do you, are you worried about being deported?

    29. MHMehdi Hasan57:10

        Yes.

    30. TNTrevor Noah57:11

        Why? Genuinely.
19. 1:04:22 – 1:07:33

    The Satanic Verses & questioning everything

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:04:28

       I, I worry because there's, there's a, there's a gift and curse when it comes to everything, right? I say that all the time, but I do believe it. One of the curses of having a media that is controlled by a few people is that it is controlled by a few people, and we don't realize that our news is being filtered through the lens of a few.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan1:04:46

       Yeah.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:04:47

       One of the-

    4. MHMehdi Hasan1:04:47

       Getting fewer by the day

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:04:47

       ... one of the gifts is that there's accountability because you know where to find these people.

    6. MHMehdi Hasan1:04:51

       Hm.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:04:52

       So even Fox News could be sued by Dominion Voting-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan1:04:55

       Yeah

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:04:55

       ... Systems, and they could lose, and they could pay the money, even Fox News in that way. But now with the internet the way it is-

    10. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:02

        Anonymous rando

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:05:03

        ... you can run an entire campaign that lies to people. And the thing that I, I, I don't mean this like-

    12. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:08

        And you never find the source of it

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:05:09

        ... yeah, I don't, I don't mean this, like, in a political way. Like, ah, disinformation. No, no, no. What I just mean is it can make human beings feel like their world is worse-

    14. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:17

        Mm

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:05:17

        ... or better or different-

    16. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:18

        Yeah

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:05:18

        ... than it actually is. And it can make them create or vote for a world that is worse for themselves without realizing it. That's, that's, like, the, the most pernicious side of it is-

    18. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:28

        Do you remember the Johnny Depp, Amber Heard issue?

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:05:30

        Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    20. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:31

        A lot of that was kind of online artificially boosted.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:05:34

        Yeah.

    22. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:35

        Um, the recent, um... Why am I forgetting the names? Uh, the recent big Hollywood row. I'm having a mind block. See, I'm old. I can remember wars.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:05:43

        Recent Hollywood row?

    24. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:44

        Blake Lively.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:05:45

        Oh, damn. Look at that.

    26. MHMehdi Hasan1:05:46

        And Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. A lot of that, there was a New York Times piece about what people were doing behind the scenes, uh, to gen up, you know, opposition to her. So y- you don't know what you can believe anymore. And a lot of people out there are just innocently living their lives, walking down the streets of Manhattan on their phones, not knowing that they're being ma- manipulated and gaslit.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:06:01

        Yeah. They're, they're seeing a lot of people saying something, but they don't know that those aren't a lot of people. Those are basically paid actors.

    28. MHMehdi Hasan1:06:07

        Or bots.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:06:07

        You know, you know how they put it in the bottom of an ad even on TV?

    30. MHMehdi Hasan1:06:09

        Mm-hmm.
20. 1:07:33 – 1:14:34

    Jason Statham movies & what Mehdi loves about America

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:07:33

       I think it's a fun time.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:35

       Yeah.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:07:35

       I sit there, and I enjoy it.

    4. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:36

       [laughs]

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:07:36

       What do you watch when you're watching stuff, by the way?

    6. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:38

       Oh, um, I've said this before because I don't really watch much other than action films.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:07:42

       Well, yeah. What, what's your go-to?

    8. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:44

       Jason Statham.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:07:45

       Ah, I like that.

    10. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:46

        I, I, I watch his films.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:07:46

        Because he's English or-

    12. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:48

        No, no. I knew you were gonna say that. No.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:07:49

        No, I don't know. I'm, I'm wondering.

    14. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:50

        No, I mean, I do love-

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:07:51

        What, what is it about him?

    16. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:51

        ... I do love that, I do love that he has the kind of, they have to always give him some random English backstory, 'cause he can't do an American accent very well. So in the majority of movies-

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:07:58

        Like me, I guess

    18. MHMehdi Hasan1:07:59

        ... in the majority of movies-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:08:00

        [laughs]

    20. MHMehdi Hasan1:08:00

        ... you can't do an English accent so far, we've seen. Poor John Oliver. The-

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:08:04

        Because they can't, because he can't do a very good American accent-

    22. MHMehdi Hasan1:08:07

        I take offense to that. I take offense. I'll get it. I'll get it.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:08:09

        Stop it.

    24. MHMehdi Hasan1:08:09

        If he comes back, if he comes back, I'll get it.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:08:11

        If he comes back. But the Amer-

    26. MHMehdi Hasan1:08:12

        Just, if you ever watch Jeremy Clarkson yesterday.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:08:13

        Yeah, that's why.

    28. MHMehdi Hasan1:08:13

        This is what, this is what, that Grand Tour stuff is not my hate.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:08:15

        But that doesn't sound like Clarkson, either. But because he can't do an American accent, in most of the movies they give him some random backstory. He left the Marine, the Royal Marines, and then moved to become a bounty hunter.

    30. MHMehdi Hasan1:08:24

        Oh, they always do. They slide him in.
21. 1:14:34 – 1:17:27

    Journalism with a point of view vs. fake neutrality

    1. MHMehdi Hasan1:14:34

       the right that is young and vicious. The Nick Fuentes, the gropers. Some of these guys were linked to Nick Fuentes, I discovered later. And I think that is what was scary, and I think that was one of the redeeming features. When I look back and say, "Would I do it again? Do I regret doing it?" I, I certainly don't regret exposing. I hope I exposed it to whatever the 15 million people, whatever it is, who watched on YouTube to say, "You know, these people live amongst us. They are your neighbors." One of the guys, Connor, claims to have been fired after the show from his employer.

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:14:58

       Yeah

    3. MHMehdi Hasan1:14:58

       And I, I remember being on there thinking, as he said to me, "Yeah, I'm a fascist," as he played down the Holocaust. I'm like, "You're saying this?"

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:15:03

       Mm.

    5. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:03

       I, I'm not naive enough to think that these views don't exist in American society. But the fact that you now live in a country where you think you can go on YouTube proudly and say it to cameras are filming you, your colleagues, your f- coworkers are gonna see this, and it doesn't bother you? That, for me, was very stark. Um, and actually for the vast majority of them, there was no consequences for airing those views on YouTube to millions That should tell us something about where we are as a country and what's acceptable now in discourse.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:15:27

       How, how afraid are you on a day-to-day basis? Like, just when you're, like, rolling in the streets living your life.

    7. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:33

       I'm okay.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:15:33

       Yeah.

    9. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:34

       I get a lot of love.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:15:35

        Okay.

    11. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:36

        They just, they just-

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:15:36

        So the balance out

    13. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:37

        ... they just stay away. They just stay away.

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:15:39

        Or they're digital.

    15. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:40

        Or they're digital, or they watch from afar. I got one guy recently shout at me in airport, said, "You should be deported. Get out my country."

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:15:46

        Like, scream at you or just say it like normal?

    17. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:48

        No, just, he said under his breath. And I said-

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:15:50

        That's even scarier in a weird way to me

    19. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:51

        ... well, he breathed. He said, he said it. He was like a middle-aged, middle-class guy. Not, didn't look like a, you know, normal guy.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:15:56

        Yeah.

    21. MHMehdi Hasan1:15:57

        So walked past me under his breath saying, "Get out," or whatever. Can't remember what he said. Depo- get, something about getting out the country.

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:16:02

        Yeah.

    23. MHMehdi Hasan1:16:02

        And I said, "What did you say? Say it to my face."

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:16:04

        Maybe he worked for the airport and he thought you were at the gate.

    25. MHMehdi Hasan1:16:06

        [laughs] Well, maybe. So I said-

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:16:07

        Maybe he was just telling you I did. No, you know, 'cause sometimes in life, you know, they say, like, your perspective can shape how you see an experience. So you don't know.

    27. MHMehdi Hasan1:16:13

        Mm.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:16:13

        Maybe this person is, like, a greeter or somebody who works at an airport, and then maybe they were saying it in a good way. They were like, "Oh my God, there's Mehdi Hasan. I love him," and they were worried for you, and they walk past and they're like, "You should get out of the country, man."

    29. MHMehdi Hasan1:16:22

        [laughs]

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:16:22

        You know you don't know.
22. 1:17:27 – 1:21:01

    Mehdi on the Jubilee debate show – sitting with white supremacists

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:17:27

       et cetera, et cetera. There's somebody out there who is only being fed clips of yours that pissed them off.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:32

       Yes, 100%.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:17:32

       They know nothing about you as a human being.

    4. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:34

       Well, those clips like bullshit, lies.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:17:35

       Yeah, yeah. But I'm saying-

    6. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:36

       Edits

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:17:36

       ... no, but I'm saying-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:36

       Yes

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:17:36

       ... there might even be stuff that you've said-

    10. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:38

        Yes

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:17:38

        ... that people have clipped.

    12. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:39

        Mm. Yes.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:17:39

        In a way. You know what, you know what?

    14. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:40

        I agree.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:17:40

        I experienced this for the first time, like in the, in the, in the starkest manner, was when I did the White House Correspondents' Dinner. I did the White House Correspondents' Dinner as Joe Biden. At like any White House Correspondents' Dinner, I roasted Joe Biden. I roasted Democrats. I roasted the, the media.

    16. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:57

        I was there. I was there in the crowd.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:17:57

        I ro-

    18. MHMehdi Hasan1:17:58

        What you mean?

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:17:58

        ... roasted, um, conservative media. I ro- you, I was like, this is what the event is about.

    20. MHMehdi Hasan1:18:03

        Mm.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:18:03

        Right? What shocked me was the next day, the clips where I spoke about-

    22. MHMehdi Hasan1:18:09

        Yeah

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:18:10

        ... anyone on the right went to the left, and the clips where I spoke about anyone on the left went to the right.

    24. MHMehdi Hasan1:18:17

        Yeah.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:18:17

        And I was shocked to see how even when we try and create-

    26. MHMehdi Hasan1:18:21

        You try

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:18:21

        ... a reality that is gray-

    28. MHMehdi Hasan1:18:23

        Yeah

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:18:23

        ... the algorithm splits the black and whites-

    30. MHMehdi Hasan1:18:25

        Yeah. Got you
23. 1:21:01 – 1:22:09

    Being afraid in Trump's America day to day

    1. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:01

       He was almost a British Olympic diver, yeah.

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:21:03

       Yeah. For me, people who pivot too much.

    3. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:06

       [laughs]

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:21:07

       [laughs] What? People who over-pivot.

    5. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:11

       [laughs]

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:21:12

       You know, if he became a swimming instructor.

    7. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:14

       [laughs] Well, his next movie, he's on a boat.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:21:17

       [laughs]

    9. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:18

       I just watched the trailer last night.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:21:19

        If he became a, a swimming instructor, I would've been like, yeah, that's within the realms. He went from diving-

    11. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:26

        To becoming a Hollywood actor

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:21:28

        But he doesn't claim to be an actor, I don't think

    13. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:29

        No, of course he doesn't

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:21:30

        I think he accepts he's not an actor

    15. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:31

        Also didn't claim to be a diver

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:21:32

        Didn't, didn't Jean-Claude Van Damme also go from, wasn't he, like, a dancer, and then-

    17. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:35

        Yeah

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:21:35

        ... he went into-

    19. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:37

        Yeah, he worked at his dad's gym and-

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:21:38

        But Jean-Claude Van Damme, I mean, come on. He's no, he's no Jason Statham.

    21. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:41

        Whoa.

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:21:42

        Oh.

    23. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:42

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:21:43

        Are you kidding me?

    25. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:44

        Yo, what?

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:21:45

        Van Damme.

    27. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:45

        JCVD-

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:21:46

        There you go

    29. MHMehdi Hasan1:21:47

        ... versus Jason Statham.

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:21:47

        Okay, first of all-
24. 1:22:09 – 1:27:11

    Why Mehdi can't stop seeing everything through politics

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:22:09

       ... It, would it be a close fight? Yes.

    2. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:11

       [laughs]

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:22:11

       Would it be a tough fight?

    4. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:11

       Time Cop.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:22:12

       My friend.

    6. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:13

       Let's go.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:22:13

       There is no world.

    8. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:14

       I got you on. There's no scenario you've watched more JCVD films than I have.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:22:17

       Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh.

    10. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:17

        I watch them now, like, the B shit that goes straight to, straight to streaming, where he's like an old assassin retired. I watch that shit, too. I watch all of this stuff.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:22:25

        What disability did he have? You did-

    12. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:25

        My man, in what world-

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:22:26

        You did the hand

    14. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:27

        ... in what world are you gonna br- [laughs] What, what, what, what disability did Jean-Claude Van Damme have?

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:22:30

        What, what was wrong with him there?

    16. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:31

        Like, I don't know. [laughs]

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:22:32

        Oh, it was a gun. It was a gun.

    18. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:34

        Like, he has a gun now-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:22:35

        It was a gun

    20. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:35

        ... 'cause he, 'cause he can't do splits and kick anymore 'cause he's fucking old.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:22:37

        No, 'cause you said, 'cause you said he's old, and you did this with your hand.

    22. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:39

        Yeah, and he did that.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:22:40

        And it looked weird.

    24. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:41

        Yes, I just did that.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:22:41

        It looked weird.

    26. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:41

        But I did.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:22:42

        But he's Jason Sta-

    28. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:42

        Couple tunnel syndrome

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:22:43

        ... Jason Statham would kick his ass.

    30. MHMehdi Hasan1:22:45

        In what world? No way. Are you kidding me?
25. 1:27:11 – 1:29:50

    Action movies, childhood heroes & being bullied

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:27:24

       I remind myself of this, is I go, I have to live in a world where I'm willing to accept certain people have done beautiful things for me in terms of their art-

    2. MHMehdi Hasan1:27:32

       Yeah

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:27:32

       ... in terms of their music, in terms of their movies, whatever it might be. Then I find out that on a personal level they have different political views to me.

    4. MHMehdi Hasan1:27:39

       Yeah.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:27:39

       That you will, that will take nothing away from what you gave me-

    6. MHMehdi Hasan1:27:42

       Yeah

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:27:42

       ... for my whole life, my whole childhood, my whole every- 'cause I'm like, yo man, okay, fine, you have, you-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan1:27:46

       No, I agree with that. You identified them on screen.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:27:48

       Yeah, but I'm saying don't let the, don't rob yourself of, don't rob little Mehdi of that.

    10. MHMehdi Hasan1:27:51

        Yeah, I try and, I try and not, no, I try not to find, especially now with the genocide, right? For me, the biggest moral issue of our time is the genocide.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:27:56

        Yes. Yeah.

    12. MHMehdi Hasan1:27:57

        For me, I see celebrities, actors through that prism, and that's a real problem for me. I recently discovered that Helen Mirren is, like, a hardcore supporter. I love Helen Mirren, and it's like, ugh, and it's painful for me. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna watch the next season of Mob Land. Yes, I'm gonna watch the next season of Mob Land.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:28:09

        Okay, okay, okay. Yes, yeah.

    14. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:09

        Fucking amazing even though apparently Tom Hardy got kicked off because of Helen Mirren.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:28:11

        Yeah. No, but they, no, but they negotiated and they, they say, I think they saw the backlash and they've now said they're working on it.

    16. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:15

        I love Tom Hardy as well. Um, but the, so that, I agree with that.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:28:19

        Yeah.

    18. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:19

        Um, but it's hard. I, I won't say it's not hard.

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:28:22

        I, I don't dispute that.

    20. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:23

        And by the way, I would do the reverse too. So someone like Kiefer Sutherland, who's a super lefty in real life, his grand- his grandfather was the first socialist prime minister of some province in Canada.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:28:31

        Oh, wow.

    22. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:31

        He was in a show, 24-

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:28:32

        Yes

    24. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:33

        ... which I loved. Super Islamophobic show.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:28:35

        Yeah.

    26. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:35

        There's no debate about that. Like, it was a super Islamophobic show.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:28:38

        That was like, that was like peak anti, uh, Muslim propaganda.

    28. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:41

        Yeah, war on terror.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:28:42

        Yeah, post 9/11.

    30. MHMehdi Hasan1:28:42

        War on terror.
26. 1:29:50 – 1:33:17

    Media manipulation, online grift & paid influencers

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:29:50

       do catch me-

    2. MHMehdi Hasan1:29:51

       Yeah

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:29:51

       ... then I'm going humor. What was your, what was your-

    4. MHMehdi Hasan1:29:53

       Mine was similar. No, humor, more mockery. So as I was getting beaten up, I would make fun of them more in front of the people.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:29:59

       For real, for real?

    6. MHMehdi Hasan1:29:59

       Yeah, 'cause my mouth never shuts. I run my mouth. So that was the main thing, right? They're gonna try and-

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:30:03

       So this is, this is-

    8. MHMehdi Hasan1:30:04

       If they're gonna try and beat me up, one thing they're not gonna do is silence me, and that's been how I've been all my life. So, you know, whether it's Republican members of Congress saying, "Deport Mehdi Hasan back to the UK"-

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:30:12

       Yeah

    10. MHMehdi Hasan1:30:13

        ... or the kid in school bullying me, calling me the P word, that was the same, that was the same. So it was always a matter of, you're not gonna shut my mouth. You can physic- you know, you know that old, "Sticks and stones will h-" you know the crap-

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:30:23

        Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, yeah

    12. MHMehdi Hasan1:30:24

        ... they used to tell you? "Sticks and stones will hurt your bones, but words will not affect you." No, bullshit. I knew it from a very early age, words will affect you. I've made words my career, and that was the only defense I had.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:30:32

        That explains a lot, though. It's like you kept, you kept that thing of you're not gonna shut me up.

    14. MHMehdi Hasan1:30:37

        No.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:30:37

        You might scare me, you might beat me up, you might threaten me, what- whatever it is, but I'm still going to say-

    16. MHMehdi Hasan1:30:43

        Mm

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:30:43

        ... what do you think that gives you? And what, what I mean is, like, what does it preserve of, you know?

    18. MHMehdi Hasan1:30:50

        I mean, I would hope it preserves my integrity because ultimately if you're in our business, at many points in your career you're asked to sacrifice integrity, your principle. You're asked to shut up about an issue. You're asked not to say... You know, as Noam Chomsky has often said, the worst kind of censorship is censorship by omission, right? It's what you don't say, not what you do say, is, that's the worst kind of propaganda-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:31:10

        Yeah

    20. MHMehdi Hasan1:31:11

        ... and, and brainwashing and gaslighting. And I think over the years that's been the thing that I've tried to avoid in all my public life, my private life, um, as a, as someone on the left, as someone who's a Muslim, et cetera, et cetera, is just saying, "You know what? I'm just gonna say what I have to say." And obviously, to go back to your earlier question, this is why I love doing Zeteo right now. As much as I loved MSNBC, I had a great time at MSNBC, had a great time in all the other places I worked. All my experiences have been great. I don't regret any of my journalistic career, but the moment I'm in now-

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:31:36

        Mm.

    22. MHMehdi Hasan1:31:36

        That freedom, really-

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:31:38

        Yeah

    24. MHMehdi Hasan1:31:38

        ... to be able to really just go for it without having to worry about any consequences, or, I mean, obviously there's some consequences, but in general-

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:31:45

        Yeah

    26. MHMehdi Hasan1:31:45

        ... I think that is hugely liberating, and I say liberating in a very literal sense.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:31:50

        Well, I'm, I'm glad that you get to be this person. Thanks for joining us, man.

    28. MHMehdi Hasan1:31:53

        Thank you.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:31:53

        This was-

    30. MHMehdi Hasan1:31:54

        Thank you for having me

Episode duration: 1:33:18