Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe defends his joke about Puerto Rico at former President Trump’s New York City rally on Sunday.
Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, responded to a clip on the social platform X in which Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DY) criticized his material. Madison Square Garden ahead of Trump’s speech.
“These people have no sense of humour,” Hinchcliffe wrote of X. “It’s great that a vice presidential candidate takes time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context and make it look racist.”
“I love Puerto Rico and vacationing there,” he continued. “I made fun of everyone… View the full set. I’m Tim Comedian. “I think it’s time to change tampons.”
Hinchcliffe’s set also included jokes targeting Jews and black men, as well as references to black Americans carving watermelons instead of pumpkins for Halloween, but it was his comments about Puerto Rico that drew the most attention and backlash.
“There is a lot going on. For example, I don’t know if you know this, but right now there’s literally an island of trash floating in the middle of the ocean. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” Hinchcliffe spoke from the stage Sunday, drawing mixed reactions from the crowd.
At another point, he said Latinos “love making babies.”
“Yes. You won’t be selected. They don’t do that. They come inside. “Just like it happened in our country,” he said.
Walz and Ocasio-Cortez responded to Hinchcliffe’s joke live. The congressman said: “If there’s an idiot calling Puerto Rico ‘floating trash,’ know what they think of you. That’s how they think about people who make less money than they do,” she said, later adding, “I hope every Puerto Rican in Philadelphia and Redding and across the country sees this video.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who is from Puerto Rico, said in her initial response that Hinchcliffe’s joke made her “very upset.”
And when Hinchcliffe responded directly to her comments online, she criticized him again.
“I can’t stand this dude telling someone else to change their tampons when he’s the only one breaking the bricks he relies on after realizing the start of a Trump rally and injecting red-meat racism into a bubbling crowd with other bigots. Ironic. Which makes you one of them.” The New York Democrat wrote in
Ocasio-Cortez responded in a separate post, saying, “You don’t love Puerto Rico.” “You like drinking piña coladas. “There is a difference.”
Democrats immediately condemned the joke, as did some Republicans, including Trump campaign officials.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Daniel Alvarez said in a statement.