After the legacy media spent much of Monday condemning comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s performance at the Madison Square Garden Trump rally, “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart defended Hinchcliffe, saying he was just “doing what he does.”
Hinchcliffe fired off numerous roasts on Sunday night, including calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” The comedian’s comment about Puerto Rico was criticized by people on both sides of the aisle, and political commentators on CNN and MSNBC called it “racist.”
“There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now,” said Hinchcliffe. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Stewart played a clip of Hinchcliffe roasting celebrities and athletes at Netflix’s Tom Brady roast earlier this year, which included jokes that many would consider far more controversial than his quip about Puerto Rico. While Stewart criticized the Trump campaign’s decision to feature a “roast comedian” at a campaign rally almost a week before the election, he said that he finds Hinchcliffe “very funny.”
“Obviously, in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before election day and roasting a key voting demographic – probably not the best decision by the campaign politically,” Stewart said. “But to be fair, the guy is really just doing what he does.”
“I mean, bringing him to a rally and have him not do roast jokes, that would be like bringing Beyoncé to a rally and not … oh,” he added, referring to the outrage over the Kamala Harris campaign inviting Beyoncé to its campaign rally in Houston last week but not having her perform.
Brilliant by Jon Stewart… 👏 pic.twitter.com/XDE1ECvRG6
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 29, 2024
After the rally at Madison Square Garden, the Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rico comment, saying in a statement, “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Former White House official Peter Navarro, a Trump backer, blasted Hinchcliffe’s joke, calling it “double stupid.”
“The joke itself isn’t even funny, and that [is] ultimately why it was double stupid,” he wrote on X. In another post, Navarro wrote, “@tonyhinchcliffe must be the biggest, stupidest asshole that ever came down the comedy pike. Never loved insult comedians (other than [Don] Rickles).”
MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+
Hinchcliffe was also condemned by Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and far-Left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The comedian responded to their criticism, writing, “These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential 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.”
These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential 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… https://t.co/VFxHRcdv5k
— Tony Hinchcliffe (@TonyHinchcliffe) October 27, 2024
