Who Is Tony Hinchcliffe? Comedian Calls Puerto Rico 'Island Of Garbage' At Trump Rally

 

Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 27, 2024.

Tony Hinchcliffe, a podcaster and comedian most well known for his appearances on Comedy Central's roasts of popular celebrities, has doubled down on a series of controversial jokes he made at a Donald Trump rally Sunday night about Latinos, immigration and the territory of Puerto Rico, which sparked widespread criticism.

Key Facts

Hinchcliffe, host of the “Kill Tony” podcast, made jokes at a Trump rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden that included calling Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" and saying Latinos "love making babies."

The comments were immediately hit with backlash from Trump’s political opponents including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who is of Puerto Rican descent, and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, who called Hinchcliffe an "a-hole" and a “jackwad” in response.

The Trump campaign moved to distance itself from the comedian after backlash began—senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement to multiple outlets the Puerto Rico joke "does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign"—but Hinchcliffe himself has refused to back down and said critics "have no sense of humor."

Hinchcliffe, who began his comedy career at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, has a stand-up special on Netflix, hosts a top-20 comedy podcast and most recently appeared at "The Roast of Tom Brady” in May.

He was dropped from his talent agency and cut from scheduled shows with Joe Rogan after he made a series of jokes capitalizing on Asian stereotypes during a set in 2021, in which he called a fellow comedian a slur and performed in an accent.

Two years later, he appeared on the YouTube show “TRIGGERnometry” to call the backlash “an orchestrated attack by the Chinese media” and said in an interview comedians should never apologize for a joke.

Key Background

Hinchcliffe, 40, wrote for the "Comedy Central Roast" series before launching his own online course called "RoastMaster Class." He has toured internationally with podcaster Joe Rogan and hosts his “Kill Tony” podcast at Rogan's Comedy Mothership club in Austin, Texas. The podcast has run for more than a decade and his manager described Hinchcliffe to Variety as an "unapologetic original voice." He’s a regular guest on the “Joe Rogan Experience,” one of the most popular podcasts in the word.