A Singaporean stand-up comedian, Jocelyn Chia has recently upset many Malaysians over her insulting remarks about Malaysia and the missing flight MH370. She has responded to the online criticisms but unfortunately, it was nowhere near an apology.
In the comment sections, Jocelyn defended her own jokes and put the blame on those offended, saying,
“Geez, people take jokes way too seriously.”
Tragedy + time = comedy
Not only that but Jocelyn also took the opportunity to share the formulae for a good joke – tragedy + time = comedy, and in this case, the missing MH370 flight was the tragedy.
Despite being told clearly it was offensive, Jocelyn said the joke is appropriate because “it has been long enough.”
When asked if it was okay to make jokes about her deceased relative, Jocelyn told netizens to go ahead if they can make it funny.
At the time of writing (June 8), Jocelyn’s social media has been taken down after netizens continuously reported it for hate speech.
“Jocelyn’s offensive comments don’t represent our views”
Just this morning, Vanu Gopala Menon, the High Commissioner of the Republic of Singapore to Malaysia publicly issued an apology via a statement posted on Facebook.
“I am appalled by the gratuitously offensive comments made by stand-up performer Jocelyn Chia.”
Vanu made it clear that the Singapore government does not condone Joeclyn’s hurtful words and clarified that she is no longer a Singaporean. Jocelyn made the insensitive remarks in Comedy Cellar, a comedy club in New York, USA.
Vanu apologised to all Malaysians for Jocelyn’s insensitive remarks and said that they don’t represent the country’s views because they have a unique historical and close people-to-people tie.
“Comments such as those made by Jocelyn are unhelpful and undermine the close trust and friendship that both our countries and peoples enjoy.”
As Malaysians, we’re sincerely thankful for the apology from the government of Singapore. In the meantime, let’s hope that Jocelyn will soon come up with an official statement or better yet, an apology.
Also read: Nigel Ng Criticises Singapore’s Bak Kut Teh & Says They Make A ‘Less Good’ Version of M’sian Food
