A spokesperson for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is attempting to distance the candidate from a racist joke about Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke before the former president at his Madison Square Garden rally Sunday night. “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,” Hinchcliffe told the crowd. In response to the massive backlash to Hinchcliffe’s comments, which also included a racist trope about Black people “carving watermelon” for Halloween, Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez told CNN political reporter Kate Sullivan, “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Like the rest of the speakers who took the stage before Trump, Hinchcliffe’s remarks were pre-loaded into a teleprompter, indicating that they would likely have been vetted by the campaign in advance.
The Trump campaign now says the comment by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” doesn’t reflect Trump’s views.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez says.
