Comedian doubles down on Puerto Rico 'garbage' comment: 'I apologize to absolutely nobody'

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe is apologizing “to absolutely nobody” for referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally days before the election.

"I love Puerto Ricans, they’re very smart people. They’re smart, they’re street smart, and they’re smart enough to know when they’re being used as political fodder,” Hinchcliffe said at the beginning of the latest episode of his “Kill Tony” podcast, which was recorded the day after the rally and released Tuesday. “And right now that is happening. And, uh, I apologize to absolutely nobody.

“Not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the whites, not to the Blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set,” he added.

Hinchcliffe’s comments from the rally set off a media firestorm and fierce bipartisan backlash in the days that followed, with some predicting the blow-up could cost the now president-elect votes from Puerto Rican communities in battleground states. But Trump ultimately made inroads with Latino voters on Election Day as he carried all seven swing states.

In the days following the rally, Trump argued that “no president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have.” His campaign was quick to dismiss the joke and said it did not “reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Hinchcliffe’s comments were criticized by some of Trump’s longtime advisers, including Peter Navarro, who called Hinchcliffe “the biggest, stupidest asshole that ever came down the comedy pike.”

While Hinchcliffe conceded during the podcast that “perhaps that venue at that time wasn’t the best fucking place to do this set at,” he still doubled down. “To the mainstream media and to everybody trying to slander me online: That’s what I do, I go hard, and that’s never going to change,” he said.

Hinchcliffe said during the episode that the joke was referring to an issue of full landfills in Puerto Rico (“I guess I’m the only person that knew about this, unfortunately”).