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2024 Election Update: Trump ends MSG rally with anti-immigrant rhetoric

2024 Election Update: Trump ends MSG rally with anti-immigrant rhetoric

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at former President Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, is facing growing backlash from Republicans, including Trump’s own campaign.

“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez wrote in a statement to ABC News.

Senate Republican Rick Scott, a longtime supporter of Puerto Rico’s statehood, also wrote on X that the joke wasn’t funny and was “bombed for a reason,” and House Republican Maria Salazar said on the platform that she was “disgusted.” Hinchcliffe’s rhetoric. , which “does not reflect the values ​​of the Republican Party.”

The Puerto Rican Republican Party also condemned Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments in a statement Sunday, with party chairman Angel Cintron writing that they were “unfortunate, ignorant and completely reprehensible.”

He added that the comments do not reflect the values ​​of any Puerto Ricans, Democrats or Republicans, either on the island or throughout the United States.

Notably, although Puerto Rico does not vote for president in general elections because it is a U.S. territory, the Puerto Rican Republican Party held primaries in April as part of its presidential nominating process. Donald Trump won this primary and collected the territory’s delegates.

Hinchcliffe has yet to give an official response as the Republican Party distances itself from him.

However, he quickly responded to Tim Walz when the Democratic governor of Minnesota called him a “jerk,” writing on X: “These people have no sense of humor. It’s crazy that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it look racist.”

Hinchcliffe continued: “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I laughed at everyone… watch the whole episode. I’m comedian Tim… maybe it’s time to change your tampon.”

This controversy is not the first for Hinchcliffe, who has a history of making racial jokes.

In 2021, he came under fire after calling out fellow comedian Peng Dang with racist words in a mocking Chinese accent. It was during the Big Laugh Comedy show in Austin, Texas, where Dang had just introduced Hinchcliffe on stage after a series of jokes related to #StopAsianHate. During filming, Hinchcliffe reportedly made even more racist jokes about the Chinese.

Following the incident, Hinchcliffe was reportedly suspended from his agency WME and dropped from a scheduled episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast. He was also reportedly forced to cancel several upcoming concerts.

— ABC News’ Lali Ibssa, Surin Kim, Oren Oppenheim and Kelsey Walsh