When the visiting cast of popular Chinese comedy program "The 80's Talk Show" attended a forum at Columbia University in September, they complained about the restrictions they have to face due to censorship in China.

Topics such as politics and sex are big no nos. Poking fun at celebrities could also get you in trouble. So the cast members become the regular butt of their own jokes.

But even when the safe mode is on, a producer said that a regular part of his job is to write self-criticisms ordered by the authorities.

Comedians in the US may be much luckier. But it doesn't mean laughter has no boundaries in this country, especially if you make it to TV. A family-oriented stage and a broader audience bring a greater need for sensibility and responsibility.

Hosts of late night comedy shows may still be able to gingerly plant some punch lines about the height of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg or the weight of New Jersey governor Chris Christie. But they are often forced to apologize to those they have offended, be it David Letterman to Sarah Palin and Lindsay Lohan or Jay Leno to Ryan Phillippe and alopecia sufferers.

This may kill part of the fun and make the job harder. But hey, if you want a seven-figure salary and worldwide recognition, you have to take the whole package.

So even as a fan of ABC late night show host Jimmy Kimmel, I had no sympathy when he got into trouble for a segment aired on October 16 in which a six-year-old he invited to a candy and chips stuffed "Kid's Table" to discuss the solutions to the US debt problem offered to "kill everyone in China."

But what got me is how slow Kimmel and his bosses at the network apparently were in understanding they were in big trouble. On October 19, offended Chinese living in the US posted a petition on We the People, a petition page hosted by the White House, to ask Kimmel and ABC to apologize.

Since then, almost all the major Chinese rights organizations in the US and many individual activists have also expressed their anger, and protests sparkled in several major cities.

But for a long while, the complaints seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. The network pretty much keep silent until two executives sent an apology letter to the leader of one rights organization on October 26. The mainstream US media didn't cover the issue until the AP wrote about the letter two days after it was sent out.

This is a sharp contrast to another race-related incident in New York.

When a black teenager complained he was arrested on the false suspicion that he used a fake debit card after he bought a $349 designer's belt in the high end department store Barney's, the mainstream media quickly turned it into a big story.

When another black customer complained about a similar experience, the headlines were even bolder. Barney's issued a statement reiterating its intolerance of racism, followed by a formal apology from the CEO.

All together it took three days to get there.

Compared to Barney's, ABC's troubles were easy to handle. Barney's may be dealing with institutional racial profiling by everyone from shop clerks to store detectives and the police.

On the other hand, the kid's comment, while disturbing, was made in a segment meant to mimic and mock the craziness in the US Congress over the government shutdown and the threatened debt default.

For a sophisticated corporation like ABC, it's unlikely the executives couldn't have come up with an explanation for the satire. The initial silence could only mean they thought it was a better way to deal with it. The Chinese, after all, are known for their quiet manner. Ignoring their requests and, most likely, nothing would happen.

But this time the silence apparently further heated the boiler. Many Chinese were at least as offended at being shrugged off as by the toxic childish comment itself.

Joe Wong, a Chinese American comedian who has more than 658,000 followers on Weibo, called on the social media website for more Chinese to sign on the White House petition: "Some dare to make fun of Chinese minorities, but they would not do the same thing to other races. Why? Because when they offend African Americans or Jewish people, the consequences are too serious."

It might be true, but only before the Chinese realized it.

The author is a New York-based journalist. rong_xiaoqing@hotmail.com