Tony Hinchcliffe defends his Puerto Rico jokes from Trump rally

AOC responded

youtube.com/watch?v=4sjLNxnKKxY

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Tony Hinchcliffe defends his Puerto Rico jokes from Trump rally

BY SARAH FORTINSKY - 10/28/24 1:07 PM ET

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe is defending his jokes about Puerto Rico at former President Trump’s New York City rally on Sunday after facing significant backlash from figures across the political aisle.

Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, responded to a clip on the social platform X of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticizing his material, which Hinchcliffe delivered on stage Sunday at Madison Square Garden ahead of Trump’s speech.

“These people have no sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe wrote on X. “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.”

“I love Puerto Rico and vacation there,” he continued. “I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim…might be time to change your tampon.”

Hinchcliffe’s set also included jokes targeting Jews and Black men and a reference to Black Americans carving watermelons for Halloween instead of pumpkins, but it was his comments about Puerto Rico that generated the most attention and backlash.

“There’s a lot going on. Like, I don’t know if you 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,” Hinchcliffe said on stage Sunday, eliciting mixed reactions from the crowd.

At another point, he said Latinos “love making babies.”

“They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country,” he said.

Walz and Ocasio-Cortez responded live to Hinchcliffe’s joke, with the congresswoman saying, “When you have some a-hole calling Puerto Rico ‘floating garbage,’ know that that’s what they think about you. It’s what they think about anyone who makes less money than them.” She later added, “I want every Puerto Rican in Philadelphia and Reading and across the country to see this clip.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said in her initial response that Hinchcliffe’s joke was “super upsetting” to her.

And she criticized him again once Hinchcliffe responded directly to her remarks online.

“Can’t get over this dude telling someone else to change tampons when he’s the one sh—ing bricks in his Depends after realizing opening for a Trump rally and feeding red-meat racism alongside a throng of other bigots to a frothing crowd does, unironically, make you one of them,” the New York Democrat wrote on X.

“You don’t ‘love Puerto Rico,’” Ocasio-Cortez responded in a separate post. “You like drinking piña coladas. There’s a difference.”

Democrats have swiftly condemned the jokes, as have some Republicans — including officials from the Trump campaign.

“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4957218-kill-tony-hinchcliffe-trump-rally-new-york-msg-harris-walz-aoc/