Comic Tony Hinchcliffe got here underneath fireplace for feedback made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at former President Donald Trump’s Sunday marketing campaign rally in New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard.
After making a vulgar joke about how Latinos “love making infants,” Hinchcliffe later turned to the Caribbean island.
“I do not know for those who guys know this, however there’s actually a floating island of rubbish in the midst of the ocean proper now. I feel it is known as Puerto Rico.”
That joke got here after Trump made an identical remark final Thursday, calling the U.S. a “rubbish can for the world” in an escalation of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Hispanic teams on each side of the aisle known as Hinchcliffe feedback “derogatory,” “offensive” and “disrespectful.”
An estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this 12 months, making up about 15% of the voters, in accordance with Pew Analysis Middle. Puerto Ricans who dwell within the U.S. territory do not need the precise to vote within the presidential election — however key swing states like Florida and North Carolina are house to distinguished Hispanic and Latino communities.
Tony Hinchcliffe speaks earlier than Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump throughout a marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York.
Evan Vucci/AP
“The Trump marketing campaign’s tolerance for offensive humor, particularly towards Puerto Rico and its residents, highlights a disturbing sample of disregard towards the island’s individuals and its challenges,” the League of United Latin American Residents mentioned in an announcement to ABC Information. “Such careless phrases not solely deepen wounds but in addition normalize dangerous rhetoric.”
The Republican Nationwide Hispanic Meeting additionally condemned the remarks.
“Such ignorant feedback not solely fail to seize Puerto Rico’s resilience but in addition misrepresent the dedication proven to the island by President Trump and his administration,” its assertion learn. “Puerto Ricans deserve respect and recognition for his or her resilience and contributions to this nice Nation.”
Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of Hispanic Federation, famous in an announcement to ABC Information that the Trump marketing campaign gave Hinchcliffe a platform to make his remarks on the identical day the Vice President Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign launched a plan for resolving points impacting Puerto Rico.
Melania Trump applauds her husband Donald Trump after he spoke at a marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York, October 27, 2024.
Angela Weiss/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
“Thousands and thousands of Puerto Ricans in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and New York could not dwell on the island, however they nonetheless revere it as their ancestral and cultural house, and you can’t proceed to disrespect us and suppose that we aren’t going to keep in mind that after we go to the poll field,” Miranda mentioned.
Hinchcliffe additionally made jokes focusing on different racial or spiritual minorities, together with each the Black and Jewish communities. He defended his jokes on-line in a response to criticism from Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Harris’ operating mate Tim Walz.
“These individuals don’t have any humorousness,” Hinchcliffe wrote in an X publish. “Wild {that a} vice presidential candidate would take outing of his ‘busy schedule’ to investigate a joke taken out of context to make it appear racist. I like Puerto Rico and trip there. I made enjoyable of everybody … watch the entire set. I am a comic Tim … could be time to vary your tampon.”
The Trump marketing campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s jokes.
“This joke doesn’t replicate the views of President Trump or the marketing campaign,” Trump marketing campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez wrote in an announcement to ABC Information.
Different GOP figures, together with MarÃa Elvira Salazar, denounced the jokes on-line.
“This rhetoric doesn’t replicate GOP values,” Salazar mentioned on X.
The joke got here shortly after Harris introduced an “Alternative Economic system” plan for Puerto Rico, which was applauded on-line by distinguished Hispanic figures with tens of hundreds of thousands of followers, together with singers Dangerous Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Luis Fonsi.
Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to takes the stage to speaks throughout a marketing campaign rally at The Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Middle on October 27, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures
Her plan consists of the creation of a brand new process power for Puerto Rico with the aim of rebuilding and modernizing the territory’s vitality grid, increasing entry to wash vitality, constructing inexpensive housing and extra.
Trump has been criticized for a way he dealt with Hurricane Maria in 2017, throughout his first time period. He is lengthy overstated how a lot catastrophe funding Puerto Rico acquired after the storm and likewise got here underneath fireplace for infamously tossing paper towels right into a crowd of Puerto Ricans at a reduction middle within the hurricane-ravaged territory after Maria hit.
Moreover, FEMA misplaced observe of greater than a quarter-billion {dollars} in meals and provides supposed for Puerto Rico over the course of its response to 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria, in accordance with a Division of Homeland Safety report that discovered delays and mismanagement within the catastrophe response efforts.
Nevertheless, Trump’s White Home accredited practically $13 billion in federal assist to assist rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid system and the schooling system in 2020.
ABC Information’ Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.
