Comedian Najip may get axe from Maharaja Lawak Mega 2017

PETALING JAYA: Singaporean comedian Najip Ali may be dropped from popular Malaysian TV show, Maharaja Lawak Mega 2017, after his offensive joke about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Mediacorp Channel 5's live comedy show OK Chope!.
Cable TV channel provider Astro, which airs Maharaja Lawak Mega, was reported as declining to confirm the news by The Straits Times of Singapore.
The report reads: “When contacted by The Straits Times on Thursday (April 6), Mr Raqim Ahmad, Astro's head of Malay entertainment, said: ‘At the moment, we will not be commenting. We have advised the media to attend the Maharaja Lawak Mega show on Friday to find out more.”
The reality show is also aired in Singapore on StarHub TV’s Astro Warna on Fridays at 10pm.
Mediacorp Channel 5 and Najip Ali yesterday apologised to Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak for a segment deemed offensive to the Malaysian Prime Minister on OK Chope!.
On March 29, Mediacorp Channel 5 aired an episode of its comedy show OK Chope! which included a segment about the prime minister.
Viewers had fed back that the segment was offensive, it said in a statement on its website.
"Channel 5 and the production team behind OK Chope! wish to sincerely apologise to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for a segment on last week's episode.
"OK Chope!, a weekly live show, features comedians providing humorous takes on news and current affairs. Last week's episode included references to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak which were in poor taste and offensive. We have thus pulled it from repeat telecast with immediate effect.
"We apologise unreservedly for this mistake," Mediacorp's chief customer officer, Debra Soon said.
In the same statement, Najib Ali said, "Over the last few days I have reflected on the comments I made during a segment on a Channel 5 comedy show which referenced Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. I realise how insensitive and callous I was.
"I would like to apologise unreservedly to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. I beg his forgiveness and that of my viewers and friends."