Recently, Singapore-born comedian Jocelyn Chia has come under scrutiny for seemingly poking fun at the disappearance of MH370.
Following the heated backlash from Malaysians and Singaporeans alike, Malaysian authorities announced their intentions to track her down.
Chia has since responded, “thanking” Malaysia for the attention while joking that her “Netflix special” is writing itself.
According to earlier reports, Inspector-General of the Malaysian Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said they would be filing a request with Interpol on Wednesday (14 June) to enlist their assistance in tracking Chia down.
Responding to them on the same day, Chia said, “I’m on the front page of BBC.com now.”
She added that she had already been for interviews with CNN, The New York Times (NYT), and BBC World, with another interview scheduled with Fox News on Saturday (17 June).
“So actually Malaysia, you can keep going,” she said.
On Thursday (15 June), Chia posted a screenshot of BBC News’ report about Malaysia’s intentions to file the request with Interpol.
Source: @JocelynChia on Twitter
In the caption, she said:
My @netflix special is writing itself. Thank you Malaysia!
Speaking to BBC, Chia said involving Interpol was “ridiculous”.
“I just wish I could have seen the face of the Interpol officer who received this request,” she said.
If Interpol does do something about this request and things escalate, can you imagine how famous it is going to make me?
In an interview with CNN, Chia said she had previously performed her routine “more than a hundred times” for 1.5 years with no issues.
She further claimed that the segment featuring the MH370 joke had been condensed for social media and was missing some necessary context.
Source: @jocelynchiacomedy on TikTok
“I do stand by my joke,” she said. “I stand by it in its entirety, when viewed in a comedy club.”
However, she conceded that the joke might be misconstrued in other situations:
Upon reflection I do see that having this as a clip that gets viewed out of a comedy club context was risky.
Chia pointed out that Singaporeans and Malaysians have always had a “friendly rivalry”, which the joke was based on.
She said she bore no grudge against Malaysia and that it was common for comedians to “roast” those who attended their shows.
Apparently, Malaysian audience members would often tell Chia after her shows that they loved it, implying that they “clearly didn’t take offence”.
Chia added that the goal was to make people smile, and a comedian’s jokes were never driven by spite.
“In the comedy club context … this is the comedian trying to get a laugh,” she said. “There is no actual malice behind it.”
Conversely, an Interpol spokesperson told Channel NewsAsia (CNA) they did not receive any official request for assistance to locate Chia as of 14 June.
They added that any such request must comply with Interpol’s Constitution, which “forbids any activities which are religious, racial, military or political in nature”.
Interpol will assess any request associated with offences related to freedom of expression according to international human rights standards.
The authority will refuse any request that is non-compliant with these rules or offence criteria.
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Featured image adapted from Jocelyn Chia on Twitter and TikTok.
The authorities have investigated and closed the incident with no follow-ups required, MFA said.
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