Former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said on Monday during an interview appearance on CNN that the audience’s reaction to a joke about Puerto Rico at Donald Trump‘s rally at Madison Square Garden “says a lot.”
The entrepreneur, who also spoke at the famed venue in New York City on Sunday afternoon, said there were double standards around the criticism that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about the U.S. territory had received compared to one made at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris about Mexico.
Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during his Sunday speech, which garnered a mixed reaction from the crowd. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, told Newsweek that the joke did not reflect its views.
“The most remarkable part about this is the audience didn’t love the joke, they actually booed,” Ramaswamy told CNN on Monday. “It says a lot about the audience’s response to a bad joke.”
Hinchcliffe’s routine also included other racist remarks about Latino families as well as a racist comment about Black people when he described carving watermelons instead of pumpkins for Halloween. The audience audibly gasped at the latter.
Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rico comment drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans, while several Puerto Rican celebrities showed their support for Harris in response. The comedian later defended himself and said his words were “taken out of context.”
In his appearance on CNN, Ramaswamy said he was not in the room when the joke was made, but there had been double standards in reactions to rally jokes over the weekend.
“George Lopez made a joke at Kamala Harris’ rally over the weekend about all Mexicans being thieves. Are we attributing that comment to Kamala Harris or querying all of her proxies? No, we are not,” he said. “I think we need to get off our high horses and acknowledge that a bad joke was told. It was bad because the joke wasn’t funny. The audience didn’t find it funny, the guys told other funny jokes in other places.”
Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden on October 27 in New York City. Inset, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” during the rally is seen. Ramaswamy said on Monday during an interview appearance on CNN that the audience’s reaction to Hinchcliffe’s joke “says a lot.”
Michael M. Santiago/ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
CNN host Brianna Keilar pointed out that Lopez was Mexican American and that many comedians make jokes about their own heritage, while Hinchcliffe did not joke about his own.
Lopez’s joke referred to Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border during his first term, with the comedian saying: “You better build it in one day, because if you leave that material out there overnight…”
Lopez also joked about Mexico paying for the construction, saying, “We can’t even really split a check at a restaurant.”
Ramaswamy said there was too much focus on one speaker at the rally, which also saw Hulk Hogan and Dr. Phil make speeches.
“This didn’t even come from Donald Trump,” Ramaswamy said. “Not even when Donald Trump was in the building. A warm-up speaker at his rally makes one joke, but a comedian at Kamala Harris’ rally makes at least one or two more offensive in the other direction, and you’re not talking about it…”
Keiler cut the entrepreneur off and repeated that Lopez was Mexican American.
Meanwhile in response to Hinchcliffe’s joke, Ohio Senator and Trump’s running mate JD Vance said during a campaign event on Monday that people need to “stop getting so offended by every little thing,” despite saying he had not heard the comment.
“I haven’t seen the joke. Maybe it’s a stupid racist joke, as you said,” Vance said, referring to a reporter’s question. “Maybe it’s not. But we have to stop getting so offended by every little thing in the United States of America.”
