The joke that cost $2 million: China imposes huge penalty for comedian’s army-themed quip

On Wednesday, China slapped a huge penalty of 14.7 million yuan ($2.13 million) on one of the biggest comedy companies for ‘harming society’ after a military joke made by one of its comedians garnered public criticism and backlash.

Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co will have to pay a fine of 13.35 million yuan along with confiscation of 1.35 million yuan in ‘illegal gains’ after the firm after finding that Li Haoshi, who performs for the firm, has breached the rules, said the Beijing arm of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism Bureau.

-In #China you can’t crack joke on #XiJinping’s slogans
-Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co’s Li Haoshi cracked joke on Xi’s slogan for PLA: ‘Have a good work style, be able to fight and win battles’
–#Chinese authorities fined Xiaoguo Culture $2.13 mil
-Xiaoguo Culture fired Li pic.twitter.com/81BvkZIR29

— Insightful Geopolitics (@InsightGL) May 17, 2023

In the joke, Li recounted seeing two stray dogs he adopted chasing a squirrel and quipped it reminded him of the phrase “have a good work style, be able to fight and win battles”. This slogan was used by Chinese President Xi Jinping to praise China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) work ethic in 2013.

“We will never allow any company or individual to use the Chinese capital as a stage to wantonly slander the glorious image of the PLA,” the cultural bureau said. It added that the comedy firm would be barred from staging any future shows in Beijing.

In response to the penalty, the comedy company has said it has terminated Li’s contract and blamed the incident on “major loopholes in management”.

While Xiaoguo Culture’s popularity has grown at a rapid speed in the country after giving some great stand-up talents, in July 2021, it was fined a penalty of 200,000 yuan for publishing ads with a comedian endorsing a lingerie brand, said to have objectified women.