Chinese comedy troupe hit with US$2 million penalty for making jokes about People’s Liberation Army
- Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media has been given an indefinite ban on performing in Beijing after a stand-up made fun of the army at a show in the capital
- The city’s regulator says a joke mocking a PLA slogan was ‘humiliating’ to the army while the police are now investigating the performance
Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media was ordered by the Beijing city cultural and tourism regulator to forfeit 1.3 million yuan (US$186,000) in income from performances in the capital and fined 13 million yuan (US$1.9 million), the regulator said in a notice issued on Wednesday.
“The company and actor Li Haoshi wantonly tampered with the preapproved content of the performance,” the notice said. “There was humiliating material against the People’s Liberation Army in two performances in the afternoon and evening of May 13, causing very bad social effects.”
In addition, the notice said the company had been suspended indefinitely from performing in the capital city.
The notice did not give further details about the offence but reports on China’s social media said Li had made fun of a popular PLA slogan about winning battles, comparing it to two dogs chasing a squirrel.
“We will never allow any company or individual to wantonly slander the glorious image of the army on any stage in the capital city … or to make fun of serious subject matters,” the Beijing regulator statement said, calling on the industry to “correct their creative thinking”.