PETALING JAYA, April 15 — Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng is using sepak takraw to troll American conservatives on national television.
In a segment for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the 35-year-old described sepak takraw as the “perfect sport for disillusioned Republicans.”
This comes as a number of conservative Americans continue to express their disapproval of basketball, rugby, and baseball players using public platforms to speak out against political issues such as racism.
“Hey conservatives, are you tired of these woke sports leagues?
“It’s time to start watching sepak takraw, the Southeast Asian game of volleyball played with your feet.
“These teams are based in Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos. You think they give a s*** about Brian Kemp suppressing the vote?” said Chieng, referring to the Georgia governor who recently signed a bill widely criticised for making it harder for ethnic minorities to vote in elections.
Chieng also showed off his Bahasa Malaysia skills in the video to mock American conservatives’ perceived ignorance towards foreign languages.
“Just watch one game and in no time, you’ll be saying ‘mengundi itu hak asasi manusia (voting is a human right)’,” Chieng said.
“As an added bonus, none of the players speak English.
“This guy could be talking about how he just joined Antifa because he loves the Green New Deal so much and you’d have no idea.”
He also took a jab at the failure of American Republicans to denounce Anti-Asian violence and made veiled references to former president Donald Trump’s role in perpetuating racist stereotypes about East Asian people.
He ended the video by promoting sepak takraw as a sport where “none of the players have heard of AOC,” referring to Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In a post on his Twitter page, Chieng said he was happy to introduce sepak takraw to the world through The Daily Show segment.
“It was great getting to practise my Bahasa Malaysia as well,” he said.
Gembira kerana dapat promosikan sukan Sepak Takraw di mata dunia! Best jugak boleh berlatih cakap Bahasa Malaysia sikit. Terima kasih @drjasonleong . https://t.co/oSpVrIgjyG
— Ronny Chieng (@ronnychieng) April 13, 2021
