Tony Hinchcliffe Remains Defiant Following Puerto Rico Controversy, Slams Media on Podcast
The comic who caused a stir by slurring Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage” at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden campaign event in late October spent the subsequent episode of his podcast mocking the controversy and the media for treating the joke as a political liability.
“I apologize,” Hinchcliffe said on his Kill Tony live podcast with a small pause for impact at the top of the episode, “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. I mocked my own mother during the set. Nobody clipped that. No headlines about me making fun of my own mother.”
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Hinchcliffe was a guest comedian who opened Trump’s rally, appearing at the podium at the 19,500-seat venue stadium among several of Trump’s surrogates and advocates. The tone of the rally was angry and filled with grievances, with several racist and misogynistic comments made by the speakers; pundits compared it to the notorious Nazi rally that took place at the stadium in 1939. The tone was set early with Hinchcliffe, who referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” mocked Hispanics over their use of birth control, then called Jewish people cheap and Palestinians rock-throwers.
An uproar ensued, with reports indicating that the Trump campaign feared Hinchcliffe’s joke about the U.S. territory could torpedo inroads made with Latino voters. Top Trump advisor Peter Navarro called Hinchcliffe, “the biggest, stupidest asshole that ever came down the comedy pike.” A wave of angry reactions from celebrities on social media then followed, becoming a major story in the final week ahead of Election Day. But Trump took 46 percent of the Latino vote in the election, helping him handily defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Monday night, Hinchcliffe’s Kill Tony podcast posted its latest episode, recorded the day after Trump’s MSG event. The live podcast stand-up comedy variety show, which premiered in 2013, sees Hinchcliffe showcase his crass insult humor alongside other comics with a similar dark sensibility egging him on. It also features a live band and studio audience. Monday’s episode opened with Hinchcliffe directly addressing the controversy and just before his anti-apology to no one, he let his audience know that he’d recently made a speech “about free speech.”
“Believe it or not, I’m currently under attack on the news,” Hinchcliffe told the crowd. “ I don’t know if you guys know this, but on my speech on free speech, I referenced Puerto Rico, which currently has a landfill problem in which all of their landfills are filled to the brim — I guess I’m the only person that knew about this,” he said. “Unfortunately, with that said, I just want to say that 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. And right now, that is happening.”
References to the controversial joke were peppered throughout the remainder of the episode of Kill Tony, including a co-host saying, as he’s “an Australian, the closest thing to a Puerto Rican you can get at short notice.”
Hinchcliffe then acknowledged that Trump’s final rally may not have been an ideal setting to debut that bit.
“Perhaps that venue at that time wasn’t the best fucking place to do this set at,” he said. “But in any matter, to the mainstream media and to anybody trying to slander me online: That’s what I do, and that’s never going to change.”
The comic also responded to the uproar about his joke on X (formerly Twitter) in October, responding to posts from VP candidate Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that were critical of his humor.
“These people have no sense of humor,” he wrote on the platform. “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. I’m a comedian Tim… might be time to change your tampon.”
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