Backlash after comedian at Trump rally calls Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage’

A comedian at a Donald Trump rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”, sparking fury from Republicans and Democrats and accusations of racism.

The comic, Tony Hinchcliffe, was among the speakers at the Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday. He also made a series of jokes that leant on racist stereotypes.

A Trump adviser distanced the former president from the Puerto Rico joke, which was also denounced by Trump’s Democratic rival, Kamala Harris. Harris herself was the target of another Trump warm-up speaker who also sparked controversy.

The furore came as one of the world’s top Latin celebrities, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, endorsed Harris for president.

In his joke, Hinchcliffe, known as Kill Tony, said: “There’s a lot going on. 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.”

The line appeared to meet a mixed reception. Two Republicans in the state of Florida, which has a prominent Puerto Rican population, were among those who called out the joke.

US congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar said she was “disgusted” by the “racist comment”. She said on X that it did not “reflect the GOP values”, referring to the Republican Party, and noted thousands of Puerto Ricans served in the military.

US Senator Rick Scott said: “The joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true.” He added that “Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans”.

Puerto Rico is a US island territory in the Caribbean. Its residents are unable to vote in US presidential elections, but there is a large diaspora across the US who can.

Hinchcliffe also suggested Latinos “loved making babies”.

He drew on racist tropes about black people and watermelons, which prompted groans from the audience – and he called Palestinians rock-throwers while in the same sentence suggested Jews would not spend money – invoking an antisemitic trope.

The comedian later defended his material. “These people have no sense of humour,” he wrote on X in response to criticism from Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.

He added: “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone… watch the whole set.”

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

She had earlier said Hinchcliffe’s comments were “super upsetting”, noting that her family was from Puerto Rico.

The night’s other speakers courted controversy with their own remarks. David Rem, a childhood friend of Trump, called Harris “the devil” and “the antichrist”.

And Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani falsely claimed the Democratic candidate was “on the side of the terrorists” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Although much of the focus was on the comments by his guest speakers, Trump used the occasion to announce a plan for tax credits for those who take care of a parent or a loved one. “It’s about time that they were recognised,” he said.

He also reiterated plans for a mass deportation for illegal migrants, speaking of his wish to “rescue” places that had been “invaded and conquered” by “vicious and bloodthirsty criminals”.

Earlier on Sunday, Harris unveiled policies aimed at helping those in Puerto Rico – garnering support from Jennifer Lopez, who has Puerto Rican parents, as well as Bad Bunny. Numerous other big-name celebrities have already backed her.

Bad Bunny posted multiple videos of Harris talking about the island, her ideas to help residents, and her attacks on how Trump handled Hurricane Maria as president when the deadly storm killed nearly 3,000 people there in 2017.

A source close to Bad Bunny confirmed to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that this represented an endorsement of Harris, breaking his longstanding tradition of not weighing in on national politics.

In the last seven years, there has been an exodus from Puerto Rico, whose inhabitants have moved to the mainland US including Florida and swing states such as North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Puerto Ricans are now reportedly the second largest Latino subgroup in those states.

Bad Bunny’s comments appeared to be pre-planned, and he did not address the remarks by Hinchcliffe. But fellow Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin did, telling his fans “this is what they think of us” and urging them to vote for Harris.

There are around 36 million Hispanic voters eligible to vote this year, according to the Pew Research centre. They have generally formed a key plank of the Democratic coalition but Republicans have been eating into that support.

Madison Square Garden, near the heart of the city, is one of the most famous venues in the world and capable of seating about 20,000.

It is also in Trump’s hometown, and the city in which he landed a historic criminal conviction earlier this year.

New York – viewed by some as a curious choice for the final week of campaigning – is a solid blue state and will not be decisive in the race for the White House.

Tony Hinchcliffe is a stand-up comedian based in Austin, Texas, known for his podcast Kill Tony, which offers stand up comedians the opportunity to audition for 60 seconds before Hinchcliffe and his co-host, Brian Redban.

The podcast has 1.89 million subscribers on YouTube.

The comedian grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and described himself as “the class clown”. He got his start in the comedy world working for Joe Rogan and writing jokes for celebrities on Comedy Central Roast.

This is not the fist time some of his comments have made headlines for their offensive nature.

In 2021, he used a racial slur when referring to American-Chinese comedian Peng Deng during a comedy set and refused to apologise.

“I knew that what I had done was not wrong,” Hinchcliffe said when asked by Vanity Fair about that controversy. “It was so dumbfounding to me because it was a joke, and my stance is that comedians should never apologise for a joke.”

Hinchcliffe was one of the comedians who appeared on former NFL star Tom Brady’s Netflix comedy roast earlier this year.