Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe is apologizing “to absolutely nobody” for his controversial joke about Puerto Rico, which he likened last month to “a floating island of garbage” while endorsing Donald Trump for president with a stand-up set at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
In the latest episode of his “Kill Tony” podcast, which was recorded the day after the rally but debuted Monday, Hinchcliffe said the set was “about free speech” and rued being “under attack” by the pundits, celebrities and social media users who deemed the joke racist.
“I referenced Puerto Rico, which currently has a landfill problem in which all of their landfills are filled to the brim,” said Hinchcliffe on the podcast, which was recorded at Joe Rogan’s comedy club in Austin, Texas. “I am the only person who knew about this, unfortunately.”
Environmentalist bloggers and regional outlets have noted that Puerto Rico does have an actual problem regarding its garbage, and that a goal set in 1992 to increase the recycling rate to 35% has reportedly only reached between 9% and 14%.
“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, they’re smart enough to know when they’re being used as political fodder,” said Hinchcliffe on the podcast. “Right now that is happening.”
Hinchcliffe had set his joke up by welcoming migrants “with open arms,” before laughingly using those arms to wave said migrants away. He then noted “there’s a lot going on,” like “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” and delivered the vexing punchline: “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
“I apologize to absolutely nobody,” Hinchcliffe said on the podcast. “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, who I made fun of during the set. Nobody clipped that.”
“No headlines about me making fun of my own mother,” he continued.
Evan Vucci/Associated Press
The backlash was certainly substantial, as a lot of coverage suggested Hinchcliffe had killed any remaining chance Trump had at the presidency, and celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Aubrey Plaza and Bad Bunny publicly denounced the joke — or Hinchcliffe himself.
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Even Rogan, while certainly supportive of his arguable protégé, argued in the aftermath of the outrage that his stand-up should only be performed at comedy venues — and not at political rallies — but that Hinchcliffe merely delivered the crass humor he’s known for.
The native Ohioan is best known for his podcast, which had packed Madison Square Garden for two nights of sold-out shows in a row the month before Trump’s rally, but also broke a Netflix viewing record with “The Roast of Tom Brady” earlier this year.
“Perhaps that venue at that time wasn’t the best fucking place to do this set at,” said Hinchcliffe during the podcast. “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.”