Tony Hinchcliffe's Joke About Puerto Rico Left Many Offended and Baffled

If you hadn't heard of Tony Hinchcliffe before Oct. 27, you might know him for a pretty terrible reason now. The comedian, who goes by Kill Tony, appeared at Donald Trump's mega-rally at Madison Square Garden, and made a particularly disparaging comment about the island of Puerto Rico that has gone viral online.

Following the viral joke, many wanted to know more about Tony's political beliefs, including whether he was a Republican. While his appearance at a Trump rally seems to offer a pretty clear signal, here's what we know.

Tony Hinchcliffe, who has been a prominent standup comedian for almost a decade and has appeared at several Comedy Central Roasts, is not known for being all that outspoken politically. He has been affiliated with Joe Rogan for years, often opening for him on standup tours, and appears to have a somewhat similar, libertarian-oriented worldview. This is not the first time he's gotten in trouble for comments he's made, though.

In 2021, he used a racial slur to refer to fellow comedian Peng Deng and was dropped by his talent agency WME. Several of his performances were also canceled, but Tony never apologized for the comment.

“I knew that what I had done was not wrong. It wasn’t even the worst thing I did that week,” he told Variety earlier this year. “It was so dumbfounding to me because it was a joke, and my stance is that comedians should never apologize for a joke."

Of course, the reason Tony is suddenly a figure of national interest is because of the "joke" he made about Puerto Rico during a massive Trump event in New York City.

“I don’t know if you guys 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,” he said. It wasn't the only racially charged or outright racist remark he made as part of his comments.

The statement sparked immediate outrage, so much so that many Republicans have come out and criticized the remarks, even though many of them are reticent to apologize for basically anything.

Tony himself doubled down on his joke, though, suggesting that the scrutiny he was now facing was simply because there were some people out there who can't take a joke.

“These people have no sense of humor,” he complained on X (formerly Twitter). “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.”

Regardless of whether he actually loves Puerto Rico, it seems pretty clear that the Trump campaign will not be doing any more events with him before Election Day. He may want to help get Trump elected, but thus far, he hasn't been all that effective.