Some jokes are bad. Some are tasteless. But to Malaysia’s government and large numbers of its social media users, comedian Jocelyn Chia’s jokes in June about the Southeast Asian country were beyond the pale. In particular, Chia attempted to poke fun at the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014 and denigrated Malaysia’s level of development.
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| Controversial stand-up comedian Jocelyn Chia. - [ New Straits Times] |
Chia made the jokes at a comedy club in New York and is a U.S. citizen. Nonetheless, the Malaysian government has sought various means, including a so-called “Red Notice” from INTERPOL, to arrest the comedian. A red notice is a request to foreign governments’ law enforcement agencies to arrest an individual. The comedian also faced intense backlash on social media from Malaysians.
by Saurav Sarkar from the Globetrotter News Service
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