Former President Donald Trump aboard garbage truck on October 30, 2024
Facing mounting backlash, Donald Trump on Wednesday again sought to distance himself from the racist “jokes” made by a comedian at his Madison Square Garden rally Sunday.
Tony Hinchcliffe, who has a history of racist remarks, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” and said, “these Latinos, they love making babies, too, just know that. They do, they do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country,” before talking about Black people carving watermelons.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., retweeted a post of Hinchcliffe defending his remarks despite the Trump campaign issuing a statement distancing it from the Hinchcliffe.
Sitting in a garbage truck with the “Trump” logo emblazoned on the side, that he said was “in honor” of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump on Wednesday (video below) told reporters, “I don’t know anything about the comedian. I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made his statement, but it was just a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you? I know nothing about him. I don’t know why he’s there, but you put comedians up and I guess you went on earlier to show, I don’t know who he is.”
The backlash has been extensive.
Top Latino stars and superstars rushed to endorse and support Vice President Harris, Trump’s Democratic presidential opponent. They include Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin, Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro, Marc Antony, and Luis Fonsi. Lopez on Instagram has 250 million followers.
On Wednesday afternoon Nicky Jam, a Puerto Rican-Dominican singer and Reggaeton star who had recently endorsed Trump, pulled his support, citing the racist remarks at Trump’s rally.
“Never in my life did I think that just one month later a comedian would show up and criticize my country, and speak poorly of my country. And for that, I revoke any support for Donald Trump and I’m stepping aside from any kind of political situation. Puerto Rico is to be respected,” Jam told his 43.5 million followers, in Spanish, in an Instagram video, NBC News reports.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
