Donald Trump allies were reportedly left scrambling after “roast comic” Tony Hinchcliffe upstaged the candidate’s national campaign moment at Madison Square Garden Sunday by making insulting jokes about Latino and Black people.
But even as Republicans denounced Hinchcliffe’s jokes, which they feared would offend much sought-after Latino and Black voters, a new report said that Hinchcliffe’s routine could have been much worse.
The comic also planned a joke about Kamala Harris that could potentially be a serious turnoff to many women, no matter their political leanings. A campaign source told The Bulwark writer Marc Caputo that Hinchcliffe “had a joke” calling the vice president a vulgar word for female anatomy.
“Let’s say, it was a red flag,” the source told Caputo, who spoke with four campaign insiders for his report, shared Monday in a newsletter.
The jokes that remained in Hinchcliffe’s 11-minute set included cracks about a Black person carving watermelons for Halloween, a description of Latino people as mindless breeders and a reference to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage, The Bulwark and Rolling Stone said.
The ensuing online backlash has sparked questions about how such offensive speech was allowed at such a high-profile rally, which was designed to give Trump a chance to deliver a final, inspiring campaign message in a very tight race for the White House.
The Daily Beast’s entertainment reporter Eboni Boykin-Patterson said the Trump campaign had to know what it was getting in the Trump-aligned Hinchcliffe because the controversial host of the “Kill Tony” podcast has long been known for using racist jokes in his comedy.
Campaign staffers told Caputo that they had asked all speakers to submit drafts of their speeches ahead of time — before they were loaded into the teleprompter — the sources told Caputo. Once the objectionable joke about Harris was spotted, a staffer asked Hinchcliffe to strike it. Because Hinchcliffe complied, questions have been raised about whether staffers let his other jokes get a pass.
But the sources insisted to Caputo that they did not spot the other objectionable lines in Hinchcliffe’s speech prior to him delivering them, because they were ad-libbed.
Rolling Stone said it was “a disastrous look” to have an arena of 19,500 people laughing alongside Hinchcliffe’s “demonstration of the overt racism.”
The backlash was almost immediate, with the Trump-aligned comedian’s comments going viral. Rolling Stone said that Latino Republicans and other Trump associates frantically messaged and called aides and longtime advisers to the former president, insisting that he or his campaign immediately denounce Hinchcliffe’s jokes.
The Trump campaign finally took the rare step of distancing itself from one of its speakers, Caputo wrote. But it only did so to separate itself from the “trash” joke about Puerto Rico and not the other jokes, Caputo said.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Danielle Alvarez, a Trump senior adviser, said.
But the political damage had already been done, according to Rolling Stone.
Two Republicans from Florida felt compelled to issue statements, Rolling Stone reported. On X, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who is running for reelection against Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, condemned Hinchcliffe’s set. “This joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny, and it’s not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans! I’ve been to the island many times. It’s a beautiful place. Everyone should visit! I will always do whatever I can to help any Puerto Rican in Florida or on the island.”
Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) also wrote on X that she was “disgusted” by Hinchcliffe’s comments, claiming that his “rhetoric does not reflect GOP values.”
Outside of Trump’s orbit, The View co-host Sonny Hostin delivered a blistering statement against Trump on the show, saying, “This Puerto Rican has something to say about the island that I love, where my family is from. Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump.”
Hostin noted that Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, Marc Anthony and other Puerto Rican celebrities have a combined 345 million followers on Instagram, while reminding Trump that he only “has 26 million, since you care so much about size.”
Hostin warned Trump that Puerto Ricans know how to “take out the trash.” She said, “My fellow Puerto Ricans, trash collection day is November 5, 2024. Don’t forget it.”
