He’s effed around, and now he’s finding out. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe is learning the hard way that one doesn’t simply refer to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” without facing significant backlash. That was just one of several jokes he made at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden yesterday that didn’t exactly land well.
The Donald Trump campaign held a rally in Trump’s hometown of New York City at Madison Square Garden. The event featured numerous speakers who have endeared themselves to the Trump campaign, including Trump himself. Tony Hinchcliffe was brought in to add some levity and get everyone laughing, but his off-color jokes about race went a step too far, even for many rally attendees. Among other things, Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage," mocked the reproductive rates of Latino families, and made jokes about Black people loving watermelon—playing into a racist trope that began after the American Civil War.
Unsurprisingly, these remarks didn’t go over well, and the backlash was swift. Not only did Hinchcliffe’s jokes fall flat in a packed Madison Square Garden, but notable public figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ritchie Torres quickly called him out on his racially insensitive remarks. There has also been a widespread surge of social media posts decrying the comedian's racially charged insults, calling for accountability after Sunday’s rally in New York.
Hinchcliffe’s jokes were so poorly received that the Trump campaign has already begun distancing itself from him. David Urban, an advisor to the Trump campaign on strategy in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, said, “I thought he was unfunny and unfortunately offended many of our friends from Puerto Rico.” Senator Rick Scott of Florida has also expressed displeasure with the remarks. It’s important to note that Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican voters in what is shaping up to be a pivotal swing state in a very close presidential race.
Not only were Hinchcliffe’s remarks widely seen as tasteless, they’ve also had some other undesirable outcomes:
They’ve alienated a large voter base with less than two weeks to go before the election,
Puerto Rican celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Ricky Martin have endorsed Kamala Harris as a results, and
Given the size and visibility of the event, they’ve fueled further racially charged remarks in a time when racial tensions are already high in the run-up to Election Day.
Being the comedian at a presidential campaign rally is a lot harder than 60 seconds of N-word jokes on Kill Tony. This is probably the first time millions of people have heard of Hinchcliffe, and he’s inspired household names like Ricky Martin to endorse Harris. With the Trump campaign working harder than ever to get voters to choose him over Vice President Kamala Harris, the last thing they needed was for their “funny guy” to activate celebrities like J. Lo and their fan bases for the Democratic candidate. This isn’t Hinchcliffe’s first dance with being “canceled” for racist jokes. His anti-Asian remarks at Peng Dang in 2021 got his show banned from Antone’s in Austin. Only time will tell if his material gets him barred from performing at Madison Square Garden or other major arenas again.
Consequences are the best teacher when it comes to life lessons. Tony Hinchcliffe spoke at a Trump rally and got bigger celebrities to endorse Harris. In the lesson of “your podcast is not real life,” let’s hope Hinchcliffe has learned his.
