In a statement, the comedian said, “I was not at the Trade Center on that day. I don’t know why I said this. This was inexcusable. I am truly, truly sorry.”
Later, on The Howard Stern Show, he explained that he’d begun telling that made-up story when he moved to California in October 2011. He was “hanging out at comedy clubs…just trying to fit in.”
He said, “It was simple as sitting at the comedy store and everyone was like, ‘Hey you’re from New York? Were you just there?’ [I said,] ‘Yeah.’ ‘You work there?’ ‘Yeah.’ You have, like, 15 seconds to go, ‘Hold on, stop, I’m sorry, that’s not true.’ If you pass that 15 seconds…now I have to be the guy who’s strange and weird.”
