Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe has defended his joke at Donald Trump‘s Madison Square Garden rally calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” saying he likes to vacation there.
His Sunday speech has faced backlash from Puerto Ricans and Democratic politicians, who have condemned the joke, and other parts of the speech, saying it contained racist remarks towards Black and Latino attendees. A 19-second recording of the Puerto Rico joke posted on X by user @Acyn had been viewed 27.7 million times by Monday morning.
But when Kamala Harris‘s campaign posted a video on X of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz criticizing the remark alongside Puerto Rican New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hinchcliffe defended himself, saying the politicians had no sense of humor.
“These people have no sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe wrote on X. “Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist.”
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaking at a Donald Trump rally, Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, October 27, 2024. Hinchcliffe has defended his joke at the rally calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” saying he likes to vacation there.
Evan Vucci/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Newsweek has contacted Hinchcliffe via his manager’s email address for comment.
The joke, which Hinchcliffe said was taken out of context, was made during a section of his set about Latino people. “Where are my proud Latinos at tonight?” he said, before launching into a series of jokes about immigration and the Texas-Mexico border. “You guys see what I mean? It’s wide open; there’s so many of them,” he said.
“There is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico?” Hinchcliffe said, prompting murmurs and silence from the crowd.
In an email to Newsweek, Trump senior advisor Danielle Alvarez said: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Hinchcliffe has a history of racial controversy. In 2021, he was dropped by his agent after calling a Chinese comedian a racist slur on stage, and calling members of the audience “race traitors” for laughing at the Chinese comedian’s jokes.
Hinchliffe said in reply to Walz that he “made fun of everyone” in the Madison Square Garden set.
“I love Puerto Rico and vacation there,” he wrote. “I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim…might be time to change your tampon.”
The tampon remark is a reference to a frequent Republican nickname for Walz—”Tampon Tim” referencing a bill Walz signed as governor of Minnesota which made menstrual products available in school bathrooms.
Ocasio-Cortez gave a scathing reply to Hinchcliffe’s defense. “Can’t get over this dude telling someone else to change tampons when he’s the one s******* bricks in his Depends after realizing opening for a Trump rally and feeding red-meat racism alongside a throng of other bigots to a frothing crowd does, unironically, make you one of them,” the congresswoman wrote on X. “You don’t ‘love Puerto Rico.’ You like drinking piña coladas. There’s a difference.”
Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman pointed out that Pennsylvania, likely to be the key swing state in determining the outcome of the election, is home to hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans. “They’re crucial to our commonwealth—not a punchline for a desperate joke,” Fetterman wrote on X. “While Trump + his allies won’t stop degrading and belittling, know Kamala Harris is fighting for everyone.”
