In the latest instance of "when playing the heel goes too far," World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has suspended Chris Jericho for denigrating a flag during a house show just last night (Thurs., May 24, 2012) in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

From WWE.com:

Chris Jericho has been suspended indefinitely due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE live event in São Paulo on May 24. WWE has apologized to the citizens and the government of Brazil for this incident.

The promotion didn't provide any details into exactly what it is that took place, which seems odd, but the bloodhounds at TMZ were on the case and they revealed exactly what it is that Jericho did to get everyone all up in a fuss.

It all went down during a match between Jericho and C.M. Punk -- who was proudly waving the flag in the ring. Jericho took the flag away, crumpled it up and kicked the flag out of the ring ... and that's when police stepped in and put a stop to the event.

We're told Jericho was informed that desecrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil ... punishable by incarceration.

Cops gave Jericho an option -- apologize to the arena ... or go to jail. Chris chose the former ... grabbing the mic and telling the crowd he immediately regretted his actions. Cops allowed the event to continue.

TMZ also stated that WWE told them they did not plan nor approve Jericho doing such a thing, which explains why they felt the need to quickly suspend him and release it on the website.

For his part, Jericho tweeted: "Just for the record I love Brazil and wish we could've spent more time here. Beautiful country!"

Our friend Arda Ocal quickly noted that the last time something similar to this happened was when Dave Finlay authorized The Miz to interrupt the national anthem at a house show, something that upset the United States Army National Guard, a WWE sponsor, enough to lead to Finlay's release from the company.

It was believed by many that Finlay would return once the heat from the incident died down but that hasn't happened. This isn't to say Jericho will face a similar fate but with his plans already in place to leave WWE by SummerSlam in order to tour with Fozzy, it's not out of line to think they'll give him a quicker than expected push out the door.