The Chinese foreign ministry has criticised Jimmy Kimmel's talk show for airing a suggestion by a six-year-old that the US "kill everyone in China" as a way of solving its debt crisis.
The comment, made during a section where Kimmel asks children for their views on the news, sparked protest by Chinese-Americans and today drew a rebuke by the Chinese government.
"It's necessary to point out that spreading racism and hatred runs counter to the media's social responsibility," said Qin Gang, a spokesman for the foreign ministry.
Kimmel has publicly apologised for the October 16 incident, where he asked a group of children how the US should pay back the $1.3 trillion it owes to China.
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"Kill everyone in China?" Kimmel asked, laughing. "That's an interesting idea." Kimmel later asked the four children: "Should we allow the Chinese to live?" receiving a mix of yes and nos.
"But if we don't allow them to live then will try to kill us," pointed out one of the tiny panelists.
Critics said ABC should have edited the remarks out of the programme before it was broadcast and protesters have repeatedly gathered outside of Kimmel's studios in Los Angeles.
Some carried placards showing the television host with a Hitler moustache and others signs read: "Fire Kimmel for promoting genocide".
The spectre of China using the debt as leverage to subjugate the US is a common meme in American conservative circles.
A controversial ad by Citizens Against Government Waste, a conservative group, shows an imaginary Chinese university class laughing as they learn about the US collapsing under its debt.
Conversely, there is a widespread belief both in China and in Chinese-American communities that the US takes discrimination against the Chinese less seriously than other minority groups.
"If those kids said kill the blacks, Muslims or Jews, I think ABC would delete their words," said one user on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter-equivalent.
Kimmel apologised on air on October and to a group of protesters who gathered outside his studio.
"We should not have put it on the air, we did not mean to upset you. I thought that everyone would see it as a joke," he said.
A petition on the White House website has gathered more than 100,000 signatures, the threshold needed to trigger an official response. The petition asks the White House to "cut the show and issue a formal apology", neither of which are likely.
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