KUALA LUMPUR: United States-based Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng has come under fire from comedy fans for a joke he cracked on The Daily Show while talking about British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
AsiaOne reported today that Chieng, 36, joked that he "did not feel represented" by Sunak in a video clip from the show which was uploaded on Oct 25.
"Let's be clear, Indians are not Asians okay?" said Chieng, to laughter from host Trevor Noah.
"They're still people, great people, they're just not Asian, okay?"
The clip which was captioned 'India isn't Asian?' fell flat with many South Asians who took to Twitter to slam Chieng.
A Twitter user said: "The irony of being from a country where Indians are one of four major races, and saying that Indians aren't Asian."
Another said: "I love Ronny Chieng's cantankerous humour. But Indians are Asians!"
Chieng hails from Johor Baru and attended school in Singapore. He has lived in the United States since 1989.
Chieng will soon join the cast of the drama series Interior Chinatown alongside Chloe Bennet and Jimmy O. Yang. It is directed by Taika Waititi.