Aubrey Plaza has rightly joined the growing chorus of people who found comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s self-proclaimed joke about Puerto Rico absolutely offensive during his recent appearance at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Not only did Plaza express her disgust, but she also evoked her abuelita’s (grandmother’s) spirit to exclaim that she would also have something to say about it.
While speaking at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards, via Rolling Stone, Plaza responded to Hinchcliffe’s offensive Puerto Rico comment in which he said, “There is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” Plaza’s response echoed the sentiments of many Puerto Ricans and others who found his joke out of line and offensive.
“I just wanted to very quickly respond to the racist joke that was made at that Trump rally about Puerto Rico, where most of my family is from. Thankfully, my sweet abuelita wasn’t here to hear that disgusting remark. But if she was alive today, I think she would say, ‘Tony Hinchcliffe, go f*** yourself’, and yes, The Wall Street Journal can quote me on that.”
Other Puerto Rican Celebrities Came Out Against Tony Hinchcliffe’s Joke
Hinchcliffe made several jokes that were aimed at Latino voters and immigration, but the Puerto Rico “garbage” comment has been the one that has garnered the most attention and outrage from many who saw the rally held at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. It also sparked many Puerto Rican celebrities to get louder regarding their support of Kamala Harris for President. Jennifer Lopez, who doesn’t normally engage in politics, used the strength of her 250 million followers on Instagram and her 44 million followers on the X platform to show her support for the Harris campaign. The actress and entertainer will be speaking in support of Harris on Thursday, and she shared a video of the presidential hopefuls’ support of Puerto Rico in which Harris said:
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and competent leader. He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes, and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
Also taking to their social media accounts to post their similar disgust were other Puerto Rican celebrities, including Bad Bunny, Marc Anthony, Luis Fonsi, and Ricky Martin. They all echoed similar comments and when some more ignorant voices tried to suggest that they weren’t U.S. citizens, many on social media rightfully corrected them by pointing out that Puerto Rico has a population of a reported 3.2 million U.S. citizens. This situation has only made their voices even louder as the presidential election draws closer.
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“He’s barely strong enough to hold an umbrella.”
For their part, several members of the GOP have condemned Hinchcliffe’s comments, but Trump’s campaign and the convicted former president himself have attempted to distance themselves from it without admitting what was said was shameful and grossly inappropriate. During an interview with Sean Hannity, the former president said he didn’t know Hinchcliffe or anything about what he said on stage at his MSG rally. Trump said, “I don’t know him; someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” and he made no moves to disavow the remarks directly. As for Hinchcliffe, he defended his comment on X by responding to Vice Presidential hopeful Tim Walz, who also put down the joke, by saying:
“These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice president 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.”