Hasan Minhaj Made Fun of Jared Kushner While Standing Next to Jared Kushner
On Tuesday night, at the TIME 100 Gala, comedian Hasan Minhaj had the opportunity to deliver a toast to some of the people whom the magazine dubbed the most influential figures in the world. He took the chance to make a plea for currently imprisoned Saudi Arabian activist Loujain Al-Hathloul, who fought against the country's ban on women drivers.
This is a very — this is a very powerful room, and you know, I know there’s a lot of very powerful people here. It would be crazy if—I don’t know, if there was just like a—I don’t know, like, if there was a high-ranking official in the White House that could WhatsApp [crown prince Mohammad bin Salman] and say, “Hey, maybe you could help that person get out of prison because they don’t deserve it,” but that would be crazy. That would be — that person would have to be in the room, but that’s just a good comedy premise.
Of course, there was someone in the room who could do exactly that: Jared Kushner, White House adviser and son-in-law to Donald Trump. Kushner's been criticized for chit-chatting with the crown prince via the personal messenging service WhatsApp rather than through official, secure channels.
According to TIME, Minhaj said the request was sincere: "I was just hoping he could send a WhatsApp message. [It could say] hey, this person has been fighting for civil liberties for all people. Maybe you should let them out of prison." Kushner probably won't be super receptive to Minhaj's idea, though: The comedian's show, Patriot Act, has been censored in Saudi Arabia for an episode that was critical of Mohammad bin Salman.
