Comic's Racist Jokes at Trump Rally Enrage Latin Superstars, Draw Widespread Condemnation

Envelope-pushing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who has written for several Comedy Central roasts and hosts the podcast "Kill Tony," ignited a firestorm of controversy with his appearance at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden campaign rally on Sunday, leading with shocking racist jokes that drew immediate rebukes from politicians and celebrities.

Full remarks here.

Hinchcliffe, 40, announced his support of Trump at the rally — which also included appearances from Melania Trump, Elon Musk, Dr. Phil, Tucker Carlson and other prominent Trump boosters — before launching into an anti-Latino set that included him stating,  "I welcome migrants to the United States of America with open arms. And by open arms, I mean like this—" waving his arms and mouthing, "Go back."

He went on to say, "These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that. They do. They do. There's no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country."

The joke that seemed most widely shared and attacked on social media was his comment, "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. I think it's called Puerto Rico." Even the crowd inside MSG did not react positively.

Democratic VP candidate Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who were livestreaming on Twitch, reacted with immediate revulsion, Walz asking, "Who is this jackwad?" and Ocasio-Cortez — who is of Puerto Rican descent — calling the jokes "super upsetting."

The comments were condemned by high-profile Puerto Ricans in entertainment, with Bad Bunny, J.Lo and Ricky Martin all sharing endorsements of Democratic candidate VP Kamala Harris, whose race was mocked during the rally.

"This is what they think of us," Martin captioned a video of Hinchcliffe's remarks.

Many Republicans also disavowed Hinchcliffe. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican locked in a tight race in Florida, wrote on social media that the "joke bombed for a reason. It's not funny and it's not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans!"

Several other members of Congress followed suit.

For his part, Hinchcliffe claimed his critics "have no sense of humor," claiming to "love Puerto Rico and vacation there."

Getting less attention — except from Swifties — was Hinchcliffe's joke that he thinks Travis Kelce could be the next O.J. Simpson, a reference to Simpson murdering his ex, Nicole Brown Simpson. Kelce is, of course, famously dating Taylor Swift.

He also pointed out a Black man in the audience and stated, "We carved watermelons together. It was awesome."

Hinchcliffe's jokes and the reaction to them appeared likely to dominate the news cycle just nine days out from Election Day, November 5.