Overview

Ian Miles Cheong Execution Rumors or Ian Miles Cheong Sedition Rumors refers to discussions and memes about conservative pundit Ian Miles Cheong supposedly being up for execution by firing squad and/or allegedly facing sedition charges in Malaysia in February 2024. After Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times covered controversial X user @CensoredMen's thread on Ian Miles Cheong's history of defending Israel, particularly amid the war with Hamas, many internet users speculated that Cheong may face legal action given Malaysia's history of arresting people and investigating them for sedition for making pro-Israel remarks. Memes about Cheong facing a "public execution" via "firing squad," "electric chair," "sharia beheading" or, in one case, "an asteroid" proliferated soon after the news spread. In the following days, Cheong also became the subject of a death hoax.

Background

On February 8th, 2024, the controversial anti-Semitic X^[1] / Twitter account @CensoredMen posted a thread about Ian Miles Cheong, making note of his career and work in internet journalism. The thread also delved into what they perceived as Cheong's tendency toward posting pro-Israel and Zionist content, with @CensoredMen arguing that Cheong's work is at odds with the values of most Malaysians given the country's majority Muslim population.

On February 9th Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times^[2] published an article about @CensoredMen's thread titled, "Netizens demand action against controversial Pro-Israeli political online influencer Ian Miles Cheong." The article cited Malaysian nationals who have called on their government to prosecute Cheong under the country's Sedition Act, given Cheong's history of defending the Israeli state.

Developments

On February 10th, 2023, Ian Miles Cheong issued a statement^[3] to the New Straits Times denying that he expressed pro-Israel views, saying, "My views on the matter have been very nuanced contrary to the regurgitated baseless claims about my past from unreliable far left-wing and transgender sources who have been literally trolling me for years due to my conservative views."

Cheong also posted an endorsement of Malaysia to his X^[4] account on February 10th (seen below), saying, "I actually love my country. The food is great, it’s peaceful, and it’s a strong conservative nation."

Also on February 10th, X^[5] user @Sturgeons_Law noted that Cheong's decision to endorse Malaysia and deny Zionist affiliations may have something to do with Malaysia's history of executing people for sedition. X^[6] user @DrewPavlou made a similar post that day, adding that he hopes Elon Musk "choppers" him out of Kuala Lumpur before it's "too late."

Ian Miles Cheong Death Hoax

As chatter and jokes online about sedition charges or a supposed execution of Ian Miles Cheong continued to circulate, Twitter / X personality @TheWapplehouse posted a tweet on February 14th, 2024, claiming that Cheong had been killed, which received over 48,000 likes before getting taken down six hours later. @TheWapplehouse documented the takedown of their post, as well as the original post in the same thread (seen below).^[11]

Despite the post's takedown, jokes and discussions of Cheong's supposed death continued to circulate on the platform in mid-February 2024. For example, on February 14th, X user @tinyvikinghrn posted a joke expressing disappointment that Cheong was not dead, receiving over 500 likes in 15 hours (shown below).^[12]

Also on February 14th, 2024, an obituary-type image commemorating Cheong with the dates "1988-2024" on it was spread widely on social media. For example, Instagram^[14] user @violentlyepic shared the image that same day, receiving over 2,600 likes in two hours (seen below).

Cheong himself addressed the death rumors in a February 14th post on his X account, receiving over 150 likes in half an hour in which he reminisced about an earlier time when sparring partners on the internet had declared him dead (shown below).^[13]

Online Reactions

Following the discourse in early February 2024, various internet users posted mocking celebrations at the possibility that Ian Miles Cheong may face capital punishment for his internet posting record. For example, on February 12th, 2024, X^[7] user @brndxix posted a meme showing a man celebrating with the caption, "me watching the ian miles cheong pubIic execution." The post gathered over 50,000 likes in a day (seen below).

me watching the ian miles cheong pubIic execution https://t.co/DG5pX2hGzF pic.twitter.com/v8ChkpAfoo

— brandon* (@brndxix) February 12, 2024

Also on February 12th, X^[8] user @airbagged posted a meme about Cheong's possible "public execution," gathering over 32,000 likes in a day (seen below).

On February 11th, 2024, X^[9] user @DaMumkeyBurner posted a video of basketball fans celebrating with the caption, "IAN MILES CHEONG LIVE SHARIA BEHEADING," gathering over 44,000 likes in a day (seen below).

IAN MILES CHEONG LIVE SHARIA BEHEADING https://t.co/4dOwblDImj pic.twitter.com/hpSRTYLyLS

— Mumkey🔻🇵🇸🇧🇩#ThankYouKotoyama (@DaMumkeyBurner) February 11, 2024

X^[10] user @SaeedDiCaprio then posted a video of a man eating at a funeral with the caption, "IAN MILES CHEONG IS GETTING THE ELECTRIC CHAIR SOON???" The post, uploaded on February 12th, gathered over 39,000 likes in a day (seen below).

IAN MILES CHEONG IS GETTING THE ELECTRIC CHAIR SOON??? pic.twitter.com/Py8BGfqIqP https://t.co/O6eS2NzOov

— Hurt CoPain (@SaeedDiCaprio) February 12, 2024

On February 14th, 2024, X^[15] user @ImpressiveCock wrote, "🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 Ian Miles Cheong is set to be publicly executed February 15. In a stunning turn of events, the Malaysian government has voted unanimously to use the Brazen Bull as the method of execution." The post gathered over 146,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Search Interest

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External References