Comedy is an art that not everyone can master because it takes a lot of skill to make people laugh without offending anyone, especially when your routine involves a sensitive topic. Recently, comedian Uncle Roger got banned on Weibo after making a joke about China, and it looks like another comedian is getting heat for her bit.
Recently, Jocelyn Chia, a Singaporean comedian, uploaded a clip of her standup routine at the Comedy Cellar in New York. Her jokes touched on the relationship between Malaysians and Singaporeans, with her focusing more positively on her home country. However, the controversial part of the routine was when she joked about Malaysian planes.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtJSWJ1g8wV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
In her bit, she mocked that Malaysian planes cannot fly, a jab on the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared en route to Beijing, China. Of course, this joke didn’t sit well with Malaysians since MH370 is one of the country’s biggest tragedies, and many relatives of those aboard the flight are still grieving nine years on.
Local broadcaster Kudsia Kahar shared her opinion about the bit, tweeting, “I draw the line at turning MH370 into a joke. Not acceptable. A good standup never turns tragedy and deaths into a joke.” However, Kudsia did preface her tweet by saying that she’s a supporter of standup comedians and was fine with the comedian’s jokes against Malaysia. Many netizens agreed with the broadcaster’s sentiment and were also angered at how the comedian joked about a tragedy.
https://twitter.com/Kudsia_Kahar/status/1666140800441552897?s=20
What irked many were the comedian’s comments in defence of the joke because when one netizen criticised her for joking about tragedies, she replied, “It’s been long enough.” Many felt that her comment was insensitive, and some believed that if she had been a close relative of one of the victims, she wouldn’t have said that.
However, it seems that not everyone was offended by the bit. Many comments on Jocelyn’s Instagram post were on the positive end, including one from local comedian Jason Leong, who commented, “I love this bit.“
But what do you think about this joke? As for us, we agree that tragedies should never be turned into jokes, especially when many are still grieving over what happened.
Adleena contributed to this article.
