SHAH ALAM - Controversial comedian Jocelyn Chia’s viral video insulting Malaysia has been removed by TikTok as it falls under the hate speech category.
A TikTok representative told Sinar Daily that Chia’s video, which saw her insulting Malaysia’s economic development and the tragic disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370, had breached community guidelines and depicted discriminatory content.
"TikTok is a diverse and inclusive community that does not tolerate discrimination.
"We do not allow content that contains hate speech or that involves hateful behaviour, thus we have removed it from our platform,” he said.
The clip from Chia’s stand-up performance at the Comedy Cellar club in New York, saw her making crude remarks about the Malaysia-Sinagpore relationship and referenced flight MH370 that had gone missing on March 8, 2014, as Malaysian airplanes ‘can’t fly’.
The video became viral on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at about 2pm yesterday.
Eight hours after the controversy erupted, she uploaded the video on TikTok with the caption: "The funniest part was after my set the host asked the Malaysian how they got to NYC and they replied Singapore Airlines”.
Chia had disabled the public comments section on the post. It garnered about 300,000 view and 729 likes before it was deleted by the platform.
However, it is unclear whether Chia had been suspended or deactivated her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter herself.
Singapore High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu Goal Meno today expressed his dismay at the "gratuitously offensive com made by Chia, stating that the Singapore Government does not condone words or actions that cause harm or hurt to others.
He also stressed that Chia was "no longer Singaporean" and that she did not "in any way reflect our (Singapore's) views”.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir expressed regret and condemned her actions.