Perspective

Outrage across the country is on the rise as a result of insensitive comments made by a comedian at a rally held by Donald Trump. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe was one of multiple headlining speakers at Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden held on Sunday. During Hinchcliffe’s section of the rally, he made many controversial statements, the most notable was an insensitive joke about the island of Puerto Rico which is a U.S. Territory. Hinchcliffe, the host of his own podcast known as Kill Tony, referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” These weren’t the only insensitive comments he made during the rally. He also made comments about Latinos, Palestinians, Jewish people, and Black people during his segment.

Connecticut has the highest population percentage of Puerto Rican ancestry out of any state in the United States. The percentage of Puerto Ricans within Connecticut is above 8% of the total population living in the state. The city of New Haven is also estimated to have a Puerto Rican population of 16% of the total city population. Connecticut state representative Juan Candelaria of New Haven who is of Puerto Rican descent said in response on CT Mirror, “If you listen to what’s supposed to be called a joke, which we don’t see that as a joke at all … basically referring that all Puerto Ricans are trash, dehumanizing Puerto Ricans in a national format.”

Many other leaders within Connecticut of Puerto Rican and Hispanic descent have also called out the comments and demand that Hinchcliffe and Trump apologize to the community for such comments.

Since the incident at the rally, Hinchcliffe has refused to apologize and even defended his jokes which sparked even more outrage. Donald Trump himself claimed that he had no knowledge of the comments from Hinchcliffe and claimed to not know him despite being a speaker at his own rally. Many as a result continue to tie Hinchcliffe to Trump as the former president himself has a history of controversial statements and actions related to Puerto Rico while in office.

For example, in 2017 when Hurricane Maria killed nearly 3,000 residents of Puerto Rico, Trump refused to believe that the death toll was that high and had also blocked billions of dollars in aid to the island which severely hurt the recovery process. Trump, according to a CNN report from 2020, had also suggested on one occasion selling Puerto Rico to another country and once also in 2019 joked about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland with Denmark when he made an ambitious request to buy Greenland.

At a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania two days after the joke from Hinchcliffe, Trump said “Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do.” Despite this, many have refused to believe Trump’s claim.

Ever since the comments from Hinchcliffe were made, many prominent Puerto Rican and Hispanic celebrities have spoken out regarding the comments. Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny endorsed Kamala Harris and posted a video showing how special Puerto Rico is and how significant they really are to the world. Rapper Nicky Jam who is of Puerto Rican descent withdrew his support of Donald Trump as a result of the comments and put out a statement in anger on social media. Former Fox News journalist and commentator Geraldo Rivera, who is also Puerto Rican put out a statement and urged Hispanic Republicans to not vote for Trump. Other notable celebrities of Hispanic and Puerto Rican descent to speak out about these comments include Aubrey Plaza, Selena Gomez, JLo, Ricky Martin and Zoe Saldaña amongst many others.

Ever since the comments, the outrage has continued leading up to the presidential election. Social media accounts encouraging Hispanic and Puerto Rican voters to get out to the polls have gotten more and more attention and followings. The Harris-Walz campaign has used the comments in advertisements and commercials to target undecided voters. Debates over the status of Puerto Rico have also become more prominent with various proposals being made over the years such as granting statehood or independence.