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Malaysian comedian “Uncle Roger” — best known for videos mocking Western chefs attempting Asian dishes — has been banned from China’s social media after making jokes about President Xi Jinping and Taiwan.
Nigel Ng, who performs under the stage name “Uncle Roger,” posted videos last week promoting his upcoming comedy special in which he ridicules Chinese surveillance and Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.
One clip shows Ng doing crowd work and chatting with an audience member who says he is from Guangzhou, China.
“Good country, good country, we have to say that now, correct?” Ng says. “All the phones listening.”
The outspoken funnyman then exclaims “long live Xi Jinping” and launches into a riff about his “social credit score going up,” referring to China’s system that uses data to evaluate citizens’ “trustworthiness.”
Ng moves on to joking with members of the audience who said they’re from Taiwan, a self-governed island claimed by China, saying it is “not a real country.”
“I hope one day you rejoin the motherland. One China,” he says.
In another recording, Ng jokingly begs the Chinese Communist Party not to “make him disappear.”
“Uncle Roger about to get canceled,” the standup comic tweeted last Tuesday.
Ng’s words have proven prophetic, as his account on China’s censored social media platform Weibo by Saturday had been barred from posting content for “violating relevant laws and regulations.”
The 32-year-old Ng, who lives in Britain, has gained online fame by creating videos in which he mercilessly pokes fun at world-famous TV chefs, including Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, for the way they cook Chinese specialties like egg-fried rice.
Ng’s Gordon Ramsay video alone has garnered 29 million views on YouTube, where he has nearly 8 million individual subscribers.
The comic also has more than 3 million followers on Instagram.
Ng’s new comedy special, portions of which have gotten him muzzled on Weibo, is set to premiere on June 4, which coincides with the 34th anniversary of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protesters.
Ng’s social media suppression comes less than a week after a Chinese comedian sparked a police investigation for making a joke about stray dogs at a performance earlier this month.
Beijing police announced last Wednesday that they were investigating comedian Li Haoshi “for severely insulting” the People’s Liberation Army.
The comedian, known by his stage name House, said he had adopted two stray dogs that were very energetic when they went after squirrels, shooting off like artillery shells after a target.
Usually, he said, dogs are cute and melt your heart, but when he sees his two dogs, he thinks of the Chinese slogan, “Able to win battles, with first-rate style.”
The phrase was first used 10 years ago by Xi to describe planned reforms for the Chinese military, according to the China Media Project, which studies Chinese media.
A government department known as Beijing’s Comprehensive Team of Law Enforcement on Cultural Market said in a statement last week it had received tips from the public about Li’s performance on May 13 and in response launched a probe into the company Li is signed with, Xiao Guo Wenhua.
The law enforcement team said it would fine the company about $2 million over Li’s quip.
With Post wires
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