Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said jokes made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico, Jews and other ethnicities at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday night were in “poor taste,” as the campaign sought to distance itself from the material.
“It was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste,” Leavitt said during an appearance on Fox News.
“Obviously, that joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or our campaign, and I think it is sad that the media will pick up on one joke that was made by a comedian, rather than the truth that were shared by the phenomenal list of speakers that we had.”
Hinchcliffe made a number of jokes that earned audible moans from the crowd and that has put the Trump campaign into a defensive mode, including at one point referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“There’s a lot going on. Like, I don’t know if you know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said, eliciting mixed reactions from the crowd.
At another point, Hinchcliffe said Latinos “love making babies.”
“They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country,” he said.
Several Trump allies have spoken against the jokes, including strategist David Urban and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said the joke was “not funny and not true.”
“Fox and Friends” host Steve Doocy said several of the jokes were “offensive.”
Hinchcliffe also made jokes at the expense of Black men and the Jewish community.
“The crowd, they didn’t mind right again it was a diverse group of people,” Leavitt said on Fox News. “The joke fell flat, but the crowd was there because they know who President Trump is. They know he wants to be a president for all Americans.”
The Puerto Rican vote could be a key factor in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
At about the same time as the rally at Madison Square Garden, Vice President Harris was speaking at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Pennsylvania, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans.
Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny shared a clip on his Instagram of Harris’s plans to support Puerto Rico shortly after Hinchcliffe’s comments.
