US comedian Jocelyn Chia won’t apologize after backlash over ‘hurtful’ Malaysia joke
A video of a joke about the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has stoked outrage in Malaysia and Singapore — but the US comedian who told it isn’t saying sorry.
Jocelyn Chia, a Boston-born, American-Singaporean stand-up comedian, performed the bit at Manhattan’s Comedy Cellar back in April.
This week, social media users were incensed after the club posted a clip of the joke in which Chia made light of the historical tensions between Malaysia and Singapore.
The now-viral joke dives into the historical separation of the two nations, noting that Singapore has become a “first world country” while Malaysia has remained a “developing” one.
She then likened the split to a romantic breakup and imagined Malaysia trying to woo Singapore back, saying that it hadn’t visited because “my airplanes cannot fly,” she said in the video clip, adding: “What? Malaysia Airlines going missing not funny?”
She then quipped, “Some jokes don’t land.”
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, in March 2014 when it disappeared with 239 passengers aboard. The plane vanished without a trace and has remained one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.
The live bit drew laughs, but when a clip was posted nearly two months later, it ignited a significant backlash against Chia and the Comedy Cellar.
The Greenwich Village club’s website was hacked, and 4,000 one-star reviews were posted on Google. Another venue, the West Side Comedy Club, said they were threatened with bad reviews after offended parties from the other side of the world found Chia had performed there.
“You can get away [onstage] with saying stuff that’s kind of outrageous,” Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman told the New York Times. “You can’t put that same moment into a small screen that you’re watching over morning coffee.”
The joke was removed from TikTok and labeled “hateful behavior,” in violation of community guidelines.
Meanwhile, the United Malays National Organization, one of Malaysia’s biggest political parties, marched to the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to protest.
And Singapore has distanced itself from Chia, who held dual citizenship until adulthood.
“The Singapore government does not condone words or actions that cause harm or hurt to others and Chia,” said Vanu Gopala Menon, Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, in a statement. “[Chia] does not in any way reflect our views. I sincerely apologize to all Malaysians for her hurtful remarks.”
But Chia, who said she has performed the bit many times, isn’t backing down.
She said the two countries have a friendly rivalry and the condensed clip left out some context from her set, adding that there is no malice behind the bit.
“I do stand by my joke but with some caveats — I stand by it in its entirety, when viewed in a comedy club. Upon reflection I do see that having this as a clip that gets viewed out of a comedy club context was risky,” Chia told CNN.
And as the controversy continues to rage, Chia said she remains unbothered.
“I didn’t want the haters to think they had won and got me to back down. Audiences at the Comedy Cellar see the best comedians and they love it, so how can I be embarrassed by it?” she said.
And in fact, the edgy bit has even raised her profile in the American comedy world.
“I’m in no way canceled in America, in any sense of the word,” Chia said. “Now people want to come see me.”
