China fines Chinese comedian US$2m for inappropriate army-related joke

Chinese stand-up comedian Li Haoshi, also known as House, has been reportedly suspended indefinitely on social media and received a US$2 million fine after joking about the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in one of his comedy shows at the Century Theatre in Beijing. 

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism announced that a subsidiary of the company that represents the comedian, Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media, would be fined $1.91 million and stripped of $189,000 in "illegal gains". The company was also barred from performing in the capital for an indefinite period of time, according to CNN.

In the meantime, Beijing police announced that they had launched an investigation into Li, claiming that his performance had "seriously insulted" the military and had a "negative social impact."

During the show, Li began a skit about how, since moving to Shanghai, he had adopted two stray dogs. He went on to say that their chase after a squirrel reminded him of eight words, "Fine style of work, capable of winning battles," (作風優良，能打勝仗), referring to the PLA with a well-known Chinese Communist Party slogan.

The phrase was first used by President Xi Jinping, who also chairs the military, in 2013 when he laid out a list of qualities he expected from the country's army. It has since been repeated at several official functions and in state media.

As the backlash intensifies, Li cancelled his performances and apologised in a social media post on 15 May, expressing his "deep remorse and regret" and admitted that he had used "an extremely unsuitable analogy to bring bad feeling and association to the audience."

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"I will take full responsibility and cancel all of my performances in order to deeply reflect and reeducate myself," said the comedian, who goes by the name House and has 136,000 followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. However, a check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw that his account has been banned by Weibo.

According to a statement released by the production company, Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media on 15 May, Li has been condemned and was suspended of his upcoming gigs.

Xiaoguo Culture Media stressed in the statement that upholding the correct core values has always been the group’s principles. They agreed to actively carry forward more social responsibility and to strengthen its education and trainings towards the comedians, making sure that they adhere to the law and maintain the order in the industry.

Checks by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw that the post of the statement on Weibo garnered over 900 comments with over 4,100 shares. Netizens were outraged by the fact that Li added the skit spontaneously and lied about it, others are curious about the consequences of this matter.  

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