“She’s no longer Singaporean”, S’pore govt apologises for comedian, Jocelyn Chia’s distasteful joke

8 Jun 2023 • 10:33 AM MYT
WauPost
WauPost

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Just yesterday, news broke out that a comedian in the United States of America decided to use Malaysia and Singapore as her content for a stand-up comedy show. In the 1 minute and 29-second video, Jocelyn Chia was seen punching down at Malaysia with her jokes however, plenty of netizens found that she had crossed a line when she joked about MH370, the plane that remains a mystery to us all.

S’pore government apologises for comedian’s distasteful joke

As her short clip goes viral online making its wave on social media, Jocelyn was receiving tons of backlash, resulting into her limiting her comments on all her social media platforms. Shortly after, the video that she has posted on her social media has been taken down and subsequently, her Instagram can no longer be found.

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Jocelyn Chia making distasteful joke about MH370.
Source: @comedycellarlusa

Following that, Singaporean authorities were aware of the issue circulating online and just over 8 hours ago, Singapore’s High Commissioner, Vanu Gopala, has spoken out on the whole saga. In a post on Facebook, Gopala expressed that he was appalled by gratuitously offensive comments made by stand-up performer Jocelyn Chia.

“The Singapore Government does not condone words or actions that cause harm or hurt to others”, he emphasised.

Then, he revealed that Chia is no longer a Singaporean and does not in any way, reflect their views and for that, he apologised to Malaysians for her hurtful remarks. Gopala went on to add that both Singapore and Malaysia enjoy a strong, multi-faceted relationship with deep cross-cutting ties.

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Vanu Gopala, Singapore’s High Commissioner expressed how he felt appalled by her distasteful jokes.
Source: Singapore High Commission in KL and Consulate-General in JB (Facebook)

“We also have unique historical and close people-to-people ties”, he said, deeming that the comments made by the comedian was unhelpful and undermines the close trust and friendship the two countries have.

Regardless of if it was a joke, it’s always good to be mindful of boundaries.

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