Chinese authorities fined a talk show operator about $2 million and suspended its programming in Beijing “indefinitely” after a comedian joked about a Xi Jinping military slogan last weekend.
(Bloomberg) — Chinese authorities fined a talk show operator about $2 million and suspended its programming in Beijing “indefinitely” after a comedian joked about a Xi Jinping military slogan last weekend.
The talk show company Xiaoguo and comedian Li Haoshi caused “grave insults” to the People’s Liberation Army, Beijing’s Municipal Cultural and Tourism Bureau said in a statement on its WeChat account Wednesday.
The bureau fined Xiaoguo 13.4 million yuan ($1.9 million) for the incident, adding it would confiscate another 1.33 million yuan ($190,090) of what it called “illegal gains,” though it didn’t elaborate.
Read More: China Probes Comedian for Mocking Xi Jinping Military Slogan
It’s the latest fallout from Li’s performance Saturday, in which he described two wild dogs he’d seen as “having a good work style, being able to fight and win battles.” That was a play on a slogan Xi had once delivered to a PLA gathering that subsequently featured in a popular military song.
A recording of the performance posted to China’s Twitter-like Weibo shows the audience laughing, but it later sparked an online furor after one viewer called Li’s remarks insensitive.
Along with the official probe into the talk show company, state media outlets including the PLA News Media Center condemned the performance as “harmful,” even as some people online questioned whether the joke had been taken too seriously.
China enacted a law in 2021 criminalizing insults against the military. In Wednesday’s statement, Beijing’s cultural authorities said Xiaoguo and Li had “wantonly altered” the contents of a pre-approved performance, adding that they’d face further legal responsibilities, without elaboration.
Xiaoguo has apologized, according to local media reports, which cited the company as saying that Li’s contract had been terminated. Xiaoguo also pledged to overhaul its shows and set up a department to moderate and vet comedian routines.
–With assistance from Selina Xu.
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