A Chinese comedian who joked about two dogs embodying the work ethic of a Xi Jinping military slogan has been suspended, after attracting the ire of strident online nationalists.
Beijing authorities launched a probe into leading talk show company, Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co., on Monday, after a growing chorus of social media posts complained Li Haoshi had insulted the People’s Liberation Army.
In an audio clip of Li’s performance posted to China’s Twitter-like Weibo, the comedian, known as House, likened the behavior of two wild dogs he’d observed to “having a good work style, being able to fight and win battles” — an eight-character slogan Xi used during a 2013 PLA national legislative session. The slogan subsequently became well-known and featured in a popular military song.
The recording shows the audience laughing. But after one viewer blasted Li’s performance online as insensitive, complaints mounted, attracting the authorities’ attention.
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Xiaoguo, which has produced some of China’s most-popular talk shows, said in a Monday statement it had suspended Li indefinitely. It apologized for his “inappropriate” analogy and vowed to better educate its actors. Li also issued an apology on his Weibo account, saying: “I will take on all the responsibility for this, stop all my performances, deeply reflect and re-learn.”
The Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, condemned the comedian for “offending” the PLA, in a Weibo post late Monday. There should be limits to what performers can say, the newspaper added. The PLA’s news media center called Li’s performance “vulgar” and “harmful,” in a Monday Weibo post.
China enacted a law in August 2021 criminalizing insults against military personnel. Former investigative reporter Luo Changping was jailed for seven months last year for insulting Chinese soldiers in a blockbuster movie about the Korean War.
On Tuesday morning, the House scandal was the top trending item on Weibo, with posts on the incident surpassing 320 million views. Most comments supported the probe, with some even calling for an outright ban of the talk show company. “Forgetting their achievements equals a betrayal of all Chinese people,” one user wrote, referring to PLA soldiers.
Others questioned whether Li’s joke had been taken too seriously. “Could that phrase be used to describe PLA dogs?” one user asked. “Are we over-interpreting the comments?”