Donald Trump’s campaign is in damage control after a speaker at his New York rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”, prompting a furious backlash from celebrities, Democrats and some Republicans.
A day after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made the joke at Trump’s Madison Square Gardens event, a spokesman from the Trump campaign sought to distance the former president from the comments
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
Trump is yet to comment personally, but the pushback from his campaign came amid a furore over the racist trope, which was one of several that Hinchcliffe made about Latinos – a powerful voting block at this year’s US election.
Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who is one of the biggest and most influential Latin celebrities in the world, has since endorsed Harris for president.
Others who rebuked the comments include fellow Puerto Rican pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin; progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose family hails from Puerto Rico; and Trump ally and Senator Rick Scott, whose Florida electorate has high numbers of Puerto Ricans.
“The joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true,” Scott said. “Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans”.
Puerto Rico is a US island territory in the Caribbean, whose people are granted American citizenship at birth, just as anyone else born in the US. But this is not the first time that Trump has come under fire over the island.
As president in 2017, he was criticised for throwing paper towels at residents who had just been hit by a series of hurricanes – actions that critics described at the time as insulting and insensitive .
Speaking to reporters before heading to the swing state of Michigan, Harris described Trump’s MAGA rally as “more of the same and maybe more vivid than usual.”
“Donald Trump spends full-time trying to have Americans point their finger at each other, fans the fuel of hate and division, and that’s why people are exhausted with him,” she said.
Hinchliffe, who is known professionally as Kill Tony, defended his speech on social media. “These people have no sense of humour,” he wrote on X in response to criticism Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.
“I love Puerto Rico and vacation there.”
Tony Hinchcliffe made offensive jokes about Puerto Rico and Latinos at the Trump rally in New York.Credit: AP
