With only days to go until the election, Donald Trump’s campaign is scrambling to do damage control after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe delivered a racist standup routine at Trump’s weekend rally at Madison Square Garden, during which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” among other bigoted remarks aimed at people of color.
The Oct. 27 event was marked by inflammatory rhetoric, racial slurs, and troubling threats aimed at immigrants, as well as vicious comments targeting Vice President Kamala Harris, which echoed Trump’s previous attacks on the Democratic nominee.
This time, however, much of the vitriolic discourse stemmed not from Trump himself but from his celebrity backers, who spoke off the cuff for more than two hours until Trump arrived. When Trump finally took the stage, the former president’s speech stretched on for 78 minutes, with the crowd noticeably thinning out before he concluded.
Also in attendance were Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Fox News alumnus Tucker Carlson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Alina Habba, Lee Greenwood, and the Trump family. The 20,000-strong crowd also cheered appearances by former first lady Melania Trump, former wrestler Hulk Hogan, who ripped off his shirt, and Dr. Phil star Phil McGraw.
Hinchcliffe, whose comedy podcast Kill Tony touts 1.8 million Youtube subscribers, set the tone for the rally as he opened up with a scurrilous monologue, saying, “there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now, I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Though the punchline seemed to go unnoticed at the rally, it sparked an uproar across the nation and prompted Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny to endorse Harris the same day publicly. Several other influential Puerto Rican superstars, including Jennifer Lopez, Luis Fonsi, and Ricky Martin, also came out in support of Harris. Many Democrats viewed Bad Bunny’s endorsement as a clear signal that Hinchcliffe’s comments will not be overlooked when Latino voters head to the polls next week.
Hinchcliffe used a vulgar stereotype directed at Latino immigrants, mockingly suggesting that they should all leave the country because all they do is have sex without birth control, he joked.
“These Latinos, they love making babies, too, just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out,” he said. “They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.”
Hinchcliffe’s performance included many other crude cheap shots, including racial stereotypes about Black people and antisemitic tropes directed at Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas.
At one point, Hinchcliffe calls out a “cool Black guy with a thing on his head. What the hell is that a lampshade?” he asked before getting to the punchline: “I’m just kidding, that’s one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night, we had fun, we carved watermelons together. It was awesome.”
The crowd responded with lukewarm laughter.
The New York Times described the rally as a “racist display of the dark energy animating the MAGA movement.”
Some voices on social media compared Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden to the infamous 1939 Nazi rally held there by the German American Bund, which also drew more than 20,000 attendees claiming to be “pro-American.”
“It was a Klan rally meant to invoke the hate that his hero in Nazi Germany spewed in that very same venue,” wrote actress Yvette Nicole Brown. “I have the courage.”
The rally had been intended to deliver the closing message of Trump’s campaign just nine days before the vote but quickly morphed into a chaotic showcase of grievances, misogyny, and racism, the Times added.
HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias, who attended, labeled the performance “shockingly racist even for a Trump rally.”
Following the debacle, the Trump campaign swiftly tried to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks, aware that millions of Puerto Rican voters would be casting ballots on November 5.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” said a statement issued by Danielle Alvarez, one of Trump’s senior advisers.
Harris’ allies on social media were already setting the narrative on social media. In one case posted a split screen video that juxtaposed Hinchcliffe’s remarks at the rally, with Harris articulating her serious policy positions in support of Puerto Rico.
Even key Republicans were left red-faced over Hinchcliffe’s remarks, with Florida’s Rick Scott and María Elvira Salazar voicing their disapproval while claiming their commitment to the Puerto Rican community, particularly in Florida, where the mainland’s largest Puerto Rican population resides.
During the opening of the rally, a parade of Republicans took turns deriding the vice president with a vicious onslaught of insults, pumping up the crowd before Trump even showed up.
Another speaker, Republican businessman Grant Cardone compared Harris to a prostitute, saying she “and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” Another speaker called Harris “the Antichrist,” while Tucker Carlson mocked Harris’ racial background, saying, “As the first Samoan Malaysian low IQ, former California prosecutor to ever be elected president, no, she’s not impressive.”
Last week, another bombshell dropped involving Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, who revealed that Trump had privately expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, as well as the Nazi generals for their loyalty to him. In response, Kelly said he told Trump that Hitler’s generals had failed in many attempts to assassinate the Führer.
During an exclusive interview with the New York Times, Kelly stated that Trump fit the definition of a fascist, claiming he would govern like a dictator if given the chance and lacked any understanding of the Constitution or the concept of the rule of law.
In response, the former president’s campaign categorically denied the allegations, with Trump firing back on Truth Social, saying Kelly had “beclowned” himself while calling Harris “a threat to democracy.”
The allegations led to a critical moment during last week’s CNN town hall, where host Anderson Cooper asked the vice president if she believed Donald Trump is a fascist.
“Yes, I do,” she responded. “Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted,” she said, referring to Kelly.
“He’s going to sit there, unstable, unhinged, plotting his revenge, plotting his retribution, creating an enemies list,” Harris told the crowd, striking a contrast with her opponent by vowing to keep a “to-do list” for the American people if she is elected president.
Hinchcliffe has a history of controversial humor, with social media users resurfacing his racially insensitive one-liners on X that date more than a decade.
“Anyone wanna go halfsies on a slave,” he wrote in May 2011. More than a year later, Hinchcliffe gratuitously invoked Hitler while poking fun at himself over a comedy routine he gave in December 2012.
“I’m killing up here, am I white people?” he said before signing off as “ -Adolf Hitler doing stand-up.”
On the eleventh anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, Hinchcliffe posted, “9-11 was the first time black employees were rewarded for being late to work.”
Hinchcliffe’s latest schtick over the weekend fell flat on Capitol Hill, where New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped the comedian the same day for disrespecting Hispanic Americans.
“You’re opening for Trump by calling Puerto Rico a floating pile of garbage. 4,000+ Puerto Ricans died under him,” she posted on X, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Maria, which both struck Puerto Rico during Trump’s presidency, leading to a humanitarian crisis and long-term recovery challenges.
“This isn’t the comedy store,” she added. “You’re using your set to boost neo-Nazis like MTG & stripping women’s rights to the Stone Age. Your ‘sense of humor’ doesn’t change that.”
Later, Ocasio-Cortez joined Minnesota Gov. and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz for a live-stream event, aiming to underscore the Harris campaign’s message about the divisive tactics employed by Trump’s celebrity supporters.
“People in Puerto Rico are citizens, they pay taxes and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anyone else,” Walz told Ocasio-Cortez during the segment while addressing Hinchcliffe’s remarks.
“It’s super upsetting to me,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “My family’s from Puerto Rico, I’m Puerto Rican, and like the thing that is so messed up, that I wish more people understood, is that the things that they do in Puerto Rico are a testing ground for the policies and the horrors that they wish to and that they do unveil in working-class communities across the United States.”
“And 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,” she added. “That’s just what they think about you. It’s what they think about anyone who makes less money than them… I want every Puerto Rican in Philadelphia and Reading and across the country to see that clip.”
Amid the backlash, Hinchcliffe responded to his critics by sharing the vodcast featuring Walz and Ocasio-Cortez discussing his comedy routine.
“These people have no sense of humor,” he 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. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set.”
From there, Hinchcliffe directed a crass joke at Walz, saying, “I’m a comedian, Tim,” before adding, “might be time to change your tampon,” in reference to Walz’s policies designed to assist school-age girls.
Later, he tried to save face by stating, “Republicans are the party with a good sense of humor.”
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Harris made a strategic visit to a Puerto Rican restaurant in Pennsylvania, aiming to connect with the swing state’s eligible Latino voters—approximately 580,000 of whom are of Puerto Rican descent.
During her visit, she highlighted the urgent need for economic growth and job creation in Puerto Rico, which has faced significant challenges following hurricanes that devastated its power grid and imposed austerity measures after the local government declared bankruptcy.
Harris assured attendees of her commitment to ensuring more effective use of recovery funds for the territory and outlined her plans to support its revitalization efforts.
