Two countries are riled up over this US comedian's joke on… MH370 disappearance

A Singaporean-US standup comedian Jocelyn Chia drew backlash in Malaysia and Singapore after one of her comedy skits in which she joked about the disappearance of 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Malaysia Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said that the county has decided to prosecute her and the police would request Interpol’s assistance for their investigation.

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Boston-born Jocelyn Chia had performed the comedy sketch at Manhattan’s comedy cellar back in April. She had said that Malaysia had “dumped” Singapore, in reference to the separation of the island state from Malaysia in 1965. Singapore had the best “break up revenge” as it had become a “first world country” while Malaysia was “still a developing country”, she said equating the separation of the two countries to a romantic breakup as she imagined Malaysia trying to woo Singapore back saying that it hadn’t visited because “my airplanes cannot fly,” adding, “What? Malaysia Airlines going missing not funny? Some jokes don’t land.”

According to the New York Post, Comedy Cellar's website was hacked and nearly 4,000 one-star reviews were posted. “You can get away [onstage] with saying stuff that’s kind of outrageous. You can’t put that same moment into a small screen that you’re watching over morning coffee,” Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman told the New York Times.

The United Malays National Organisation, one of Malaysia’s biggest political parties, lodged a protest at the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur while Singapore distanced itself from the comedian, who held dual citizenship until adulthood.

“The Singapore government does not condone words or actions that cause harm or hurt to others and Chia,” Vanu Gopala Menon, Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia said, adding, “[Chia] does not in any way reflect our views. I sincerely apologise to all Malaysians for her hurtful remarks.”

The comedian, however, said, “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."

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