Trump Says He ‘Didn’t Hear’ Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe Who Called Puerto Rico ‘A Floating Pile Of Garbage’ At MSG Rally

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe has been condemned for saying that Puerto Rico is a “floating pile of garbage” during a rally for Donald Trump in New York City on Sunday.

“There’s a lot going on,” Hinchcliffe stated during the event in Madison Square Garden. “Like, 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. Yeah, I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

The comedian soon received backlash for his remarks.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) both responded during a Twitch live stream.

After calling Hinchcliffe a “jackwad,” Walz noted that “people in Puerto Rico are citizens.” 

“They pay taxes, and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anybody else,” he said.

“Yeah,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “I mean, it’s like super upsetting. It’s super upsetting to me. My family is from Puerto Rico. I’m Puerto Rican.”

“And, the thing that is so messed up that I wish more people understood is that the things that they do in Puerto Rico are a testing ground for the policies and the horrors that they wish to – and that they do unveil – in working-class communities across the United States,” she noted. 

“And I need people to understand that when they – when you have some a-hole calling Puerto Rico floating garbage, know that that’s what they think about you, that that’s just what they think about you,” she declared. “It’s what they think about anyone who makes less money than them. It’s what they think about the people who serve them food in a restaurant. It’s what they think about the people who fold their clothes in a store.”

Hinchcliffe replied to the Minnesota governor and New York congresswoman’s comments in an X post on Sunday.

“These people have no sense of humor,” he claimed on X. “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.”

The tampon comment alludes to a name Republicans gave Walz—”Tampon Tim”—because, as Minnesota’s governor, he signed a law mandating that public schools in the state offer menstrual products in all bathrooms.

Ocasio-Cortez quickly responded to the comedian’s claim in an X post on October 28.

“Can’t get over this dude telling someone else to change tampons when he’s the one s—ing bricks in his Depends after realizing opening for a Trump rally and feeding red-meat racism alongside a throng of other bigots to a frothing crowd does, unironically, make you one of them,” the congresswoman wrote on the platform.

“You don’t ‘love Puerto Rico,'” she stated in a separate post on Sunday. “You like drinking piña coladas. There’s a difference.”

The Trump campaign immediately tried to distance itself from the comments.

“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement about Hinchcliffe’s remarks about Puerto Rico.

At a news conference, Trump said he was “proud” of the MSG event and “didn’t hear” Hinchcliffe’s comments.

Back in May 2021, Hinchcliffe had been dropped by his talent agency after a video of him using Asian slurs at Big Laugh Comedy Club in Austin, Texas, had gone viral.