NEW YORK — Donald Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, filled with racist jokes and crude comments in an event that was built as Trump’s “closing message” to the American people.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe caused much of the backlash as he made explicit jokes about Latinos and referenced Trump’s recent comments about America being the “garbage can of the world”.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah, I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said.
Hinchcliffe took it a step further and pointed out a Black audience member, making another racist joke, this time about carving watermelons for Halloween. He also went on to make anti-Palestinian and anti-Semitic comments as well.
The Trump campaign had vetted and chose to speak at Trump’s high-profile event with reports Hinchcliffe had plans to call Vice President Kamala Harris a c**nt.
“He had a joke calling [Vice President Kamala] Harris a ‘cunt,’” a campaign insider involved in the discussions about the event told The Bulwark. “Let’s say it was a red flag.”
The Trump campaign attempted to distance itself from the comic, releasing a statement on the matter.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump campaign’s senior adviser Danielle Alvarez wrote in a statement.
Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News on Monday morning that Hinchcliffe’s joke was in “poor taste.”
Harris’ campaign immediately slammed Hinchcliffe’s comments, posting a video of the Vice President’s plan to help Puerto Rico — a key voting bloc that Harris is trying to win over in the final days of the campaign.
The backlash to Hinchcliffe’s comments was swift as Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Marc Anthony all endorsed Harris. Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, ripped the comedian for his comments as well.
“These people have no sense of humor. 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,” Hinchcliffe wrote on social media. “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set.”
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson also spoke and made racist jokes about Harris. Radio host Sid Rosenberg used curse words and crude jokes to describe Latinos and Hillary Clinton.
