'Sibling rivalry' flows in Fountain Of Youth

For moviegoers missing grand archaeological action adventures such as those in the Indiana Jones (1981 to 2023) and The Mummy (1999 to 2017) films, Fountain Of Youth will scratch an itch.

- Joanne Soh

Dubbed "comedy's bad girl" by American TV news channel Fox News, she made headlines in international news outlets such as The New York Times, CNN and BBC after her stand-up joke about the ill-fated MH370 flight went viral in 2023.

Two years on, Singapore-raised American comic Jocelyn Chia is still trying to shake off the "Malaysia Airlines joker" label.

The former lawyer, who is in her 40s, tells The Straits Times that the tasteless gag she made at New York's popular comedy club Comedy Cellar was not even new.

It was part of a routine about the nuanced rivalry between Singapore and Malaysia that she had included in her live sets for more than a year, says Chia, whose parents and younger siblings reside in Singapore.

Known for her sharp wit and high-energy routines, the New York-based comedienne's stand-up content typically revolves around her personal migration experiences, social observations and Singapore-United States cultural comparisons.

When Comedy Cellar and Chia posted a clip of an April 7, 2023 set — which included her making light of the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' MH370 airplane — to TikTok and Instagram on June 5 that year, the 89-second video prompted an international backlash.

Chia received hate comments, Comedy Cellar's website was hacked, protesters demanded an apology, and she was threatened with an Interpol red notice by the Malaysian government. Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan weighed in and apologised for her "horrendous comments" in a tweet, stressing that Chia "does not speak for Singaporeans".

The fallout saw Chia getting "cancelled" by IBM. She had been a regular broadcast host for the American tech corporation for two years, but a complaint from its Malaysian office saw her contract terminated.

A show she was scheduled to perform at another New York comedy club was also axed.