Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng Kin-ju, popularly known as Uncle Roger, has been banned from China’s social media profiles after he poked fun at Xi Jinping’s authoritarian government.
Who is Uncle Roger?
Nigel is a 32-year-old Malaysian stand-up comedian and internet personality who has appeared on several tours and television programmes.
Born in Malaysia, Nigel is currently based in London. His parents are Malaysian Chinese of Hokkien ancestry. After graduating high school from Kuala Lumpur in 2009, he moved to the United States to study at Northwestern University, majoring in engineering and minoring in philosophy. Nigel, who started his career as a data scientist, later decided to become a comedian after realising that he was quite funny at parties and made his television debut in 2018 on Comedy Central's Stand Up Central.
Nigel achieved internet fame through his persona “Uncle Roger” who humorously critiques cooking videos in an intentionally faked Southeast Asian English accent. Although it was his comedy partner Evelyn Mok who came up with this character for a sitcom, it was Nigel who further introduced the character on TikTok and Instagram and then onto YouTube. The duo also hosts a comedy podcast called Rice To Meet You based on Asian culture.
It was in July 2020 that he attracted viewership on a critique video of Harsha Patel’s BBC Food video on cooking egg-fried rice in the Uncle Roger persona. After the video went viral, Nigel and Patel were invited to appear on BBC together and the duo also collaborated on a YouTube video.
He then posted a video praising Gordon Ramsay for the technique implied in making fried rice and a video critiquing Jamie Oliver’s versions of popular Asian dishes like egg-fried rice and Thai green curry. Nigel also makes it clear that he does not want any of his viewers to spread hate towards anyone. But later that year he revealed about being a victim of an anti-Asian racist assault in London. He mentioned in one of his live sets, "I got punched, man, in London. This is real." He added that it was a cyclist who had punched him.
In February 2021, Nigel became a special guest on Season 2 of MasterChef Singapore. Then he became a judge on Junior MasterChef Indonesia Season 3 held during August 2022. On October 13, 2022, he also became a guest diner on Hell’s Kitchen Season 21.
China's censorship
His political controversies took charge in January 2021 as he uploaded his first Chinese video on Bilibili, a video sharing website based in China. On January 12, Nigel apologised on China's social media platform Sina Weibo and took down a video featuring fellow YouTube star Mike Chen who had been critical of the Chinese Communist Party. Nigel stated that the video made a bad social impact and that he wasn't even aware of his political thoughts and remarks about China. He apologised by saying “I hope you can give Uncle Roger, who has just entered China, a chance to improve!" His move attracted criticism on Twitter. In his first subsequent video as Uncle Roger, he said he would "keep making funny videos with no politics, no drama.”
Then, yet again in May, he is set to face punitive actions on Chinese social media after making jokes on China and its censorship regime. According to reports, Nigel's social media accounts in China have been closed down in response to the same. It is speculated that his ban was the aftermath of a promo clip of his upcoming show that he posted on YouTube which called out the surveillance state of China's authoritarian government.
While performing as his stage persona Uncle Roger he passed a joke saying "about to get cancelled". The clip has so far generated views in millions across social media platforms. Nigel reposted the video on Twitter, with the caption: "For some reason this clip got a ton of views this past weekend. I wonder why." In the video, Uncle Roger spoke to someone in the audience who said he was from Guangzhou, China, to which he replied: "Good country, good country. We have to say that now." He then joked about being monitored by Beijing via his smartphone: "They are all listening. All our phones tap into it. Long live President Xi. Long live President Xi", after which he humoured about his “credit score going up”. He then refers to Taiwan as “not a real country” and one that will “rejoin the motherland.”
He then requests a Chinese member to sing praises on him before the Chinese government, before saying, “Uncle Roger good comrades” and “Don’t make him disappear please.” Thereafter, Weibo users found Nigel’s account where he has more than 400,000 followers, displaying a notice that reads “Due to violations of relevant laws and regulations, this account is currently in a state of being muted.” Weibo has not yet disclosed the reason for suspension. Netizens also found his homepage on Bilibili, which is a video site akin to YouTube, indicating that his account is under suspension.
Coincidentally, Nigel’s full stand-up comedy show is scheduled air on June 4, which is considered the anniversary of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, a highly politically sensitive date for Chinese authorities.
Lately the Chinese Communist Party appears to be keeping tabs on individuals who are believed to have violated political boundaries. It was recently, that Chinese comedian Li Haoshi had to undergo bitter consequences for passing a joke that vaguely hinted at the army. His actions resulted in the entertainment company getting fined over $2 million and is prohibited from organising performances in major cities. The police is reportedly undertaking an investigation on Li which could possibly lead to his imprisonment. Li also had to suspend all of his upcoming work and had to give up his posting privileges on Weibo.
