Stand-up comedian Jocelyn Chia performed a routine about the historical animosity between Singapore and Malaysia, which she had included in her sets for more than a year, at the Comedy Cellar in Manhattan. However, when a clip of the performance was posted to TikTok and Instagram, it was met with strong backlash. In the 89-second video, Chia was joking with a Malaysian audience member when she made light of the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. This provoked angry reactions from Malaysians, with the Comedy Cellar receiving a high volume of one-star reviews and its website being hacked. Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, even condemned Chia on Twitter and apologised for her comments.
This incident once again highlights the dangers comedians face when edgy material is taken out of its natural late-night setting and shared on social media. The Comedy Cellar and the West Side Comedy Club both received complaints and negative reviews as part of the backlash. Chia, who has future gigs planned in New York, maintained that the controversy had not damaged her career and that her extended routine about Singapore and Malaysia was one of her most successful bits. Google eventually restored the Comedy Cellar’s rating.
Chia, who was born in Boston but raised in Singapore, was a lawyer before pursuing a career in comedy. Her act includes a joke about Malaysia’s relationship with Singapore, imagining Malaysia trying to explain why it hadn’t visited in a long time because “my airplanes cannot fly,” then adding, “What? Malaysia Airlines going missing not funny?”
While it may have caused an international incident, Chia refused to remove the joke from her act, responding to its critics and haters: “Audiences at the Comedy Cellar see the best comedians and they love it, so how can I be embarrassed by it?”
