Not long after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe appeared at Donald Trump’s massive Madison Square Garden rally this weekend and called Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage,” the internet came alive with Google searches for his name. In fact, as Nate Silver points out, searches for Hinchcliffe have eclipsed those for Taylor Swift. The obvious implication would seem to be that tons of people had no idea who Hinchcliffe was and were swiftly trying to ascertain the identity of the guy who had just insulted the island.
Hinchcliffe’s comments have set off a political firestorm, with some commentators even questioning whether the viral remarks—which are sure to offend some members of America’s sizable Puerto Rican population—could cost Trump the election. Problematically for the Trump camp, 2022 census data shows the U.S. has about 5.9 million people living in it that ethnically identify as Puerto Rican. Indeed, close to half a million Puerto Ricans live in the closely watched swing state of Pennsylvania alone.
The viral jokes had significant political after-effects, with numerous politicians—both Democrats and Republicans alike—decrying it. The Trump campaign has distanced itself from Hinchcliffe (a representative told Fox: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign”), despite presumably vetting his material before it went live. The joke also apparently inspired Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny—considered one of the most popular artists among Gen-Z Americans—to endorse Kamala Harris for President.
In addition to outrage, Hinchcliffe’s joke seems to have inspired a lot of confusion—or at least interest—from droves of people, some of which had likely never heard of the comedian. Below is a screenshot of the parallel Google search stats of Taylor Swift and Hinchcliffe, with Hinchcliffe’s results represented in blue:
Google Analytics related to Hinchcliffe shows some interesting regional metrics. In Florida, for instance, where some 1.2 million Puerto Ricans live, Hinchcliffe’s nationality was a top Google search. The Miami Herald, one of Florida’s largest newspapers, has reported that local politicians, including those who support Trump, have come out to decry Hinchcliffe’s comments. One U.S. Representative, Maria Elvira Salazar, of Miami, said she was “disgusted” by the joke. La Mesa Boricua de Florida, a Puerto Rican political advocacy group based in Florida, was quoted as saying: “Trump must not forget that in Florida around 800,000 Puerto Ricans have the ability to exercise their right to vote.”
That said, Google Search interest seems to have been most heavily concentrated in predominantly “blue” states, signaling that liberal denizens of those environs hadn’t heard of Hinchcliffe or his brand of edgelord-comedy. Searches were highest in Washington D.C., New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California. Hinchcliffe seems to be quite popular with certain demographics, as his podcast has nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube.
Hinchcliffe didn’t just belittle America’s island territory on Sunday. He also made a joke about a Black audience member and watermelon (“Look at this guy, oh my goodness. Wow. I’m just kidding, that’s one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun. We carved watermelons together”), shared his thoughts about the links between Hispanics, immigration, and birth control (“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”), and even dipped his toe in the Israeli Palestinian conflict (he referred to Palestinians as “rock throwers,” and made a joke about Jews being stingy). Truly a cringe gauntlet of hacky material.
The comedian’s racial comments have gotten him in trouble before. In 2021, he was “canceled,” after he referred to comedian Peng Dang—who had introduced him at a standup event in Austin—as a “filthy little fucking chink.” Dang later told USA Today that he was offended by Hinchcliffe’s remarks: “Tony never came up to me, talked to me or apologized. I don’t think he thinks that was offensive,” he said. Not long after the incident went viral, Hinchcliffe was dropped by his agents. Now, Hinchcliffe has his own podcast (Kill Tony) and has buddied up with podcast king Joe Rogan. Indeed, an old Rogan clip circulated on X on Monday in which the podcast host suggested that Trump get Hinchcliffe to write him some jokes.
It’s difficult to interpret what, exactly, the Trump campaign was hoping to accomplish with its MSG rally. In the mainstream media, the rally was widely referred to as a quasi-“fascist” invocation of the MAGA movement’s most odious tendencies. That said, lots of stuff happens at Madison Square Garden. Many presidents have held their rallies there, and Cyndi Lauper is set to play there later this week. Just because a big, loud political rally was held at New York’s premiere events center, doesn’t mean that it was meant to emulate the notorious 1939 pro-Nazi rally that was held at the same location. Having said thata whole lot of racist and sexist stuff got said on Sunday, and the overall tone (for this viewer, at least) really felt like one of swiftly encroaching darkness. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has told multiple news networks that she feels the rally was an effort to rile up the uglier parts of the Trump base. Perhaps the campaign just saw it as another way for Trump to make viral content. I guess mission accomplished, on that front.
