Kill Tony
The comedian who caught hell for his “garbage” joke about Puerto Rico has released his post-speech reaction, recorded the night after his appearance at Madison Square Garden.
In an episode of “Kill Tony,” the podcast and show hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe, he’s onstage performing … and he goes into a bit about his freshly controversial set from the night before.
10/27/24
You’ll recall … at a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in NYC on October 27, Hinchcliffe was warming up the crowd — one of his jokes was, “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.”
That provoked outrage online and in real life, with many politicians and media figures — and even Trump’s own campaign — to call out the joke, and Tony, for poor taste. There was also concern his association with Trump was potentially damaging to Hispanic voters, a demographic Trump was trying to court.
In the set recorded the night afterward, he leaned into the controversy.
“I’m currently under attack,” Tony said in Austin, Texas. “I just want to say, I love Puerto Ricans — they’re very smart people — they’re smart, they’re street smart, they’re smart enough to know when they’re being used as political fodder.”
Tony finished with “I apologize to absolutely nobody,” doubling down on his stance — “Not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the Whites, not to the Blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set.”
Hinchcliffe did seem to acknowledge his misstep from the night before, however.
5/5/24
Netflix
“Perhaps that venue at that time wasn’t the best f***in’ place to do this set at,” he said.
Very on brand for Tony’s style of humor — but it just might get him some more warmup sets for Trump, maybe even at the White House.