Just over a week before the 2024 presidential election, a Donald Trump rally in New York City became the site of a major controversy involving a comedian’s offensive jokes about Latinos – as well as high-profile endorsements that could have significant political implications.
The rally at Madison Square Garden featured a set from 40-year-old comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the “Kill Tony” podcast. During his time on stage, Hinchcliffe made a series of remarks that many deemed racist and disrespectful towards the Latino community.
One of Hinchcliffe’s most controversial comments referred to Puerto Rico as “literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”
This sparked immediate backlash from prominent Puerto Rican figures, including Ángel Cintrón, the head of the Republican Party in Puerto Rico. According to the New York Post, Cintrón called the joke “ignorant and entirely reprehensible.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a district in Miami with a large Puerto Rican population, also condemned Hinchcliffe’s “racist comment,” saying it did not reflect Republican values and disrespected Puerto Ricans who have served in the military.
But Hinchcliffe didn’t stop there. He also made sweeping generalizations about Latinos, claiming “these Latinos, they love making babies too, just know that — they don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.” These comments outraged Latino artists and activists, like singer Luis Fonsi, who declared on Instagram, “We are not okay with this constant hate.”
One of the world’s biggest Latin music stars, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, has now endorsed Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris shortly after Hinchcliffe’s offensive performance.
Bad Bunny, who has over 45 million Instagram followers, shared a video of Harris speaking about the importance of the Puerto Rican vote – potentially giving a major boost to the Harris campaign’s efforts to engage Latino voters.
Although, the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s comments, stating the jokes “do not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” the damage has already been done.