Former President Donald Trump distanced himself from controversial comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday (Oct. 27). “I don't know him. Someone put him up there. I don't know who he is,” Trump told ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott on Tuesday (Oct. 29).
The publication added that, despite widespread coverage of Hinchcliffe's appearance across a wealth of media outlets, the Republican presidential nominee maintained that he was unaware of what took place at his own event. When presented with an opportunity to condemn the inflammatory remarks, Trump instead reiterated his claim of not hearing them.
On Monday (Oct. 28), TIME shared a response to the backlash from Danielle Alvarez, the senior advisor for the embattled politician's reelection run. “The joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” she stated. When TIME inquired further, Alvarez reportedly shot back, “You do know he’s a comedian, and these are jokes, right?”
As REVOLT previously revealed, Hinchcliffe was widely condemned after making crude jokes about minorities at Trump’s rally. “These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that they do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country,” he said onstage before continuing, “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.”
Elsewhere during his set, he turned his attention to “a Black guy with a thing on his head” in the crowd. “That’s one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun. We carved watermelons together. It was awesome.” Hinchcliffe also cracked questionable jokes about San Francisco, immigration, free speech, and the many celebrities who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.