NEW YORK — As former President Donald Trump courts the community’s vote, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe crudely mocked Latinos — a key constituency for any winning campaign in 2024 — during the pre-program of the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally.
With nine days remaining until the election, Trump gathered scores of his most popular surrogates and allies to rally thousands in Midtown Manhattan, a reliably deep-blue area.
Hinchcliffe, taking the first slot of nearly 30 pre-program speakers, launched into a crude and disparaging set of jokes about the conflict in the Middle East, Black voters and Latinos.
“These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that they do,” Hinchcliffe said, setting up his joke: “There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They c– inside, just like they did to our country.”
A few moments later, the comedian took a second swing at a key voting block within the community: Puerto Ricans.
“There’s a lot going on. 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,” he said to a scattering of claps and jeers.
He also told a joke about one of his Black “buddies” and how they “carved watermelons” together.
Battleground Pennsylvania, where polling margins show a razor-thin race between Trump and Harris, is home to the third-largest Puerto Rican diaspora in the country. Last month, the former president invited Puerto Rican artist Anuel AA onstage at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to publicly throw his support behind the Republican ticket.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment about Hinchcliffe’s jokes.
Speaking on a livestream with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sunday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, responded to the comedian’s comments.
“Who is that jack-wad? Who is that guy?” Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, asked after a clip of Hinchcliffe’s joke played on their stream.
“People in Puerto Rico are citizens. They pay tax and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anybody else,” Walz added, knocking Trump for his response to Hurricane Maria in 2017 — including a now-famous clip in which the former president tosses rolls of paper towels to Puerto Ricans seeking aid.
“Obviously, it’s super upsetting to me,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I need people to understand that when you have some ‘a-hole’ calling Puerto Rico floating garbage, know that that’s what they think about you.”
Puerto Rico, which is home to over 3 million American citizens according to the 2020 census, experienced significant outward migration to the mainland United States after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island territory in 2017.
Puerto Rican who live on the island are not eligible to vote in presidential elections (the commonwealth does hold elections and award delegates to both Democratic and Republican primary candidates) despite being U.S. citizens.
But their relatives on the mainland can.
Vice President Kamala Harris, for her part, unveiled her plan for Puerto Rico as she campaigned in Pennsylvania on Sunday, posting details to her social media accounts and adding a section to her campaign website. Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican rapper and singer, shared Harris’ announcement with his more than 45 million Instagram followers.
