Chinese comedian arrested for possession of crack cocaine and a gun in New York
Society & Culture
Top society and culture news for January 20, 2017. Part of the daily The China Projectย news roundup "The Trump-Xi era begins."
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Chinese comedian Zhou Libo arrested in Long Islandย / Newsday
Zhou Liboย ๅจ็ซๆณข is a comedian from Shanghai famous for popularizing a performance style he calls โShanghai Small Talkโ (ๆตทๆดพๆธ ๅฃ hวipร i qฤซngkวu), which is more similar to American stand-up comedy than the crosstalkย format that northern Chinese tend to prefer. Many of his jokes are about Shanghainese subjects, and often mock people from other parts of China for being unsophisticated rubes.
He was arrested in Long Island, New York, on Thursday after a traffic stop for illegal possession of a โloaded Colt MKIV Mustang .380 pistol and two plastic bags containing crack cocaine.โ The news became the top trending topicย on social media platform Weibo on Friday. The comments are overwhelmingly critical of him, pointing out his derogatory remarksย about people who are not Shanghainese; also, that he reportedlyย beat up his father-in-law. Many social media users delighted in posting this video clipย from his TV show, in which he jokes that he would never take drugs in his life, although he might choose to sell them. (All links in this paragraph are to Chinese sources.)
