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Who Is Jocelyn Chia? Comedian's MH370 Joke Sparks Outrage In Malaysia

Jocelyn Chia, who is based in the US, triggered backlash in Malaysia and Singapore after a clip she posted of her stand-up routine at a New York comedy club

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Aastha Dhillon
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Who Is Jocelyn Chia? Comedian's MH370 Joke Sparks Outrage In Malaysia
Jocelyn Chia, a lawyer turned stand-up comedian, is under fire for making a joke about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
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Chia, a US national who grew up in Singapore, is being investigated under Malaysian laws on incitement and offensive online content, police say.

MH370 went missing after taking off from Kuala Lumpur in March 2014. Despite a four-year search in the Indian Ocean, the main fuselage was not found, but there was some debris. The 239 individuals on board are presumed to be dead.

Chia brought up MH370 in regard to the ongoing tension between Singapore and Malaysia. The joke made recently at the Comedy Cellar Club in New York by comic Jocelyn Chia was denounced by the foreign ministers of both nations.

Who Is Jocelyn Chia

Jocelyn Chia is a former lawyer from Singapore who now performs stand-up comedy. She frequently performs at the top comedy clubs in New York City, such as the Comedy Cellar and Gotham Comedy Club, and has been profiled in publications including.

She has appeared on a number of channels, including Comedy Central, Vice TV, AXS TV's Gotham Comedy Live, the Howard Stern Channel on Sirius XM, and MTV.

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Chia, who was born in Singapore, outraged Malaysians by posting an 89-second clip of her comedy routine on her TikTok and Instagram sites. Singapore's officials also apologised as a result of it.

On Tuesday Malaysian national police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said an application would be filed with Interpol on Wednesday to get Ms Chia's "full identity" and "latest location".

Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's minister of foreign affairs, issued an apology on Thursday for the hurt and offence Chia's joke had brought to Malaysians.

The high commissioner of Singapore to Malaysia, Vanu Gopala Menon, also expressed regret "to all Malaysians for her hurtful remarks".

Her comments regarding the missing airliner and other remarks about Malaysia were deemed "gratuitously offensive" by Menon.


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Comedian Jocelyn Chia
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