That makes more sense, actually. I haven't heard a person use the term "Oriental" for a group of people in several decades. Makes sense that it's from an old (and stupid) joke.
Much more common outside the US, where it's not seen as a slur at all. It's commonly used to differentiate the "Far East" (China, Japan, etc) from the rest of Asia (India, etc).
It does technically mean "from the east", after all.
But yeah, you'll see it everywhere in the U.K. for example