Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe has been blasted after making a string of offensive jokes during a rally for Donald Trump over the weekend.
On Sunday night, the 40-year-old comic stepped out on stage at Madison Square Garden to endorse the Republic presidential candidate, and made a string of racially charged jokes.
He took aim at Latino people, the island of Puerto Rico, Black people, and migrants as he stood at the podium.
‘I welcome migrants to the United States of America with open arms. And by open arms I mean like this,’ he said before making a ‘go away’ gesture with his hands.
‘These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that they do,’ he later added in a crude joke. ‘There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They c*m inside, just like they did to our country.’
The writer for many of Comedy Central’s roasts continued: ‘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.’
And when he later spotted a Black man supporting him in the audience, the podcast host joked that he ‘carved watermelons’ with them for Halloween.
Kamala Harris’ vice presidential nominee Tim Walz blasted Hinchcliffe in a Twitch livestream while watching a clip of his routine.
‘Who is this jackwad?’ he asked, before turning his attention to Trump’s response after Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico devastated seven years ago.
He added: ‘People in Puerto Rico are citizens. They pay taxes and serve in the military, almost at a higher rate than anybody else.’
After the comments went viral, Bad Bunny – who is from Puerto Rico – posted a video of Harris revealing her plan for the island, throwing his support behind her, and Ricky Martin shared a clip of his jokes, adding in Spanish: ‘This is what they think of us.’
New York congressman Ritchie Torres wrote on X: ‘As a Puerto Rican, I’m tempted to call Tony Hinchcliffe racist garbage, but doing so would be an insult to garbage.
‘When casting their ballots at the voting booth, Latinos should never forget the racism that Donald Trump seems all too willing to platform.’
After the backlash, Hinchcliffe insisted Walz had taken his joke ‘out of context’.
He wrote: ‘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.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Tony Hinchcliffe’s representatives for comment.