WHILE comedian Jocelyn Chia has been the target of many Malaysians’ anger due to her insensitive bit on the MH370 tragedy, she has refused to apologise and even defends it but now she has garnered support from her American counterpart.
An American comedian, Chrissie Mayr recently had a podcast with Jocelyn as a guest speaking about the topic. Chrissie prior to this had defended her on several Twitter posts, stating that Jocelyn should “never apologise for a joke”.
The Singapore-raised comic mentioned earlier in the podcast said that she believed that it was a great joke and that she stood by it but also spoke out about the responses she and Chrissie have received throughout the period they have expressed their defiance, defending the controversial joke.
“I’m being defiant about it because I just have that streak in me that if you force me to do something, the more I’m not going to want to do it.
“The worst part about the response is when I was saying these things that people are saying are so deplorable, I was doing my job. And for them to come at my friends, my family and even your stepson (referring to Chrissie), with death threats and really grotesque harassment.
“What is their excuse? I was doing my job when I said this. I was being a professional comedian on the best stage in the world. I don’t know what their excuse is for stooping to this level of brutality,” Jocelyn told Chrissie who added that the responses were really “disgusting”.
However, in the later part of the podcast, Chrissie then mentioned that the number of the MH370 victims were “not that many”, followed by Jocelyn’s boisterous laugh. She did mention later that she was not trying to personally trigger anyone with that joke.
Chrissie then further explained how humour is used as a coping mechanism when confronted by Malaysians who asked her how she would feel if they joked about the 9/11 tragedy in 2001.
“People were doing 9/11 jokes since the week of 9/11...Humour, it is a pressure release valve, it’s how people cope and I can’t stand when people are offended by jokes because for some of us, that is therapeutic while for some, it’s how we heal, how we grieve and find joy in our lives.
“When you say that your opinion is more important than people who enjoyed the joke or were even neutral about the joke. That is why I feel that it is a very selfish move,” she explained.
On the other hand, Chrissie also chimed in by saying that she received an angry, explicit message from Malaysian pianist Cathryn Li on Instagram after declaring her support for Jocelyn.
Based on the podcast and a recent tweet from Jocelyn on June 18, it is understood that she is firmly sticking to her comedic guns and not apologising for her joke anytime soon as she feels that apologies should be sincere and not forced out.
“Some Malaysians have been brow beating and harassing me, my friends, my family, my colleagues, while at the same time demanding an apology. Do they really think I would feel like apologising after getting all this ** from them?
“I will not be bullied into giving an apology. An apology needs to come from the heart, and should not be coerced,” she said in her post.
