Joke from Tony Hinchcliffe apparently bombed when he told it on Saturday night, a day before New York rally

The podcaster who provoked an angry backlash against Donald Trump’s campaign with a racist joke about Puerto Rico reportedly tested out the gags at a comedy club the night before delivering them at Sunday’s televised rally at Madison Square Garden.

Tony Hinchcliffe, whose 11-minute set has thrown Trump’s team into damage limitation mode a week before the presidential election, made the same quip, calling the territory “a floating island of garbage”, at the Stand club in New York on Saturday, according to NBC.

The joke bombed, drawing just a few awkward chuckles, NBC said, citing one of its own producers and three audience members.

  • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Find it pretty ironic that so many people are suddenly shocked and appalled at a roast comedian making a joke about Puerto Rico, calling him racist, when the Boricuas aren’t a specific race, it’s a nationality. Saying how appalled they are that the republicans would allow such a bad comedian to say a joke in such bad taste, as though saying shocking ignorant things is something new for that group.

    While at the same time completely disregarding how the United States on both sides of the political spectrum has completely taken advantage of, corrupted and destroyed the islands of Puerto Rico, all while not allowing for the same level of political representation. Feels pretty hypocritical to me.

    This comedian just said exactly how the US treats the people and lands of Puerto Rico, like trash…

    Edit: I’ll agree that I could have expressed my point clearer, but after a day of conversation on this subject I am absolutely convinced no one actually cares about Puerto Rico in this thread. Just a bunch of fake virtue and mob mentality. Hard keeping faith in humanity when so many just care about belonging to an identity instead of actually putting in the effort to care about people.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I’ve heard this shit before…

      “Muslim isn’t a race”

      “Puerto Rico isn’t a race”

      funny how most members of the not-race are always somewhat brown aren’t they?

      • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        missing the point. learn about the actual people if you care so much. The word racist has been overused sooo much it has lost all relevance. It doesn’t fucking matter, some idiot on some roll call of some political shitshow means nothing, actual action that could be done today for the people of PR matter.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          wrong. the reason that joke is made about Puerto Rico and not Kansas is racism. if you can’t see that you’re either naive or wilfully trying to obfuscate. the frequency with which you’d like the word to be used doesn’t change the fact that it is a racist joke. the joke is not about the nationality.

          by the way, their nationality is american.

          • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I actually think the joke is about tearing people down, and could be applied to anyone. I mean that is this whole comedians shtick. Many people from Kansas and the south are called ‘white trash’, as a joke. You can certainly place whatever judgement you want on people but I still think it’s ignorant and missing the point.

            You don’t know anything about the people you are offended for. Case in point, don’t ever tell a Borinqueños that their nationality is American. While they are legally American citizens they most often identify as Puerto Rican first. They had no choice in their American assimilation just like the Hawaiians, Samoans or the Chamorros. They were all colonized and still mistreated by the US today.

            • pyre@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              you’re being willfully obtuse or ignorant. no one said jokes couldn’t apply to anyone. the point is these jokes didn’t. they only applied to minorities. fucks sake if you didn’t watch the thing just don’t comment will you? the dude made a black people/watermelon jokes and you’re out here like 🤓 emm actually everyone likes watermelons so this can’t be racist. just stop. this is embarrassing.

              • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Not at all what I am saying. I am saying that this guy does this for a living. Look up the guys comedy, it’s literally his whole career, not something that just popped up yesterday. It’s not the first time he’s been called out for it, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that he says stuff like this. He says it about literally everyone, to include minorities. He tears people down and makes fun of people for a profession. Why is what this guy said at some bullshit rally important? He says this stuff all over the world, most days of the week. Stop giving this guy attention, he only gets more fans and more tickets sold. Going on the internet and being offended is making the problem worse. I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.

            • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
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              1 month ago

              So you think you could just walk outside, call someone “white trash” and nothing would happen? Because it’s a “just a joke bro”? You need to step off the Internet and touch some grass.

              • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Again, not the point, and not what I think. I am not saying there aren’t repercussions to saying words. I am saying giving this whole thing attention does nothing but just feed into the game. The more people talk about this the more these people are relevant. The engine of the right wing conservative party in the US is about the fear that they are becoming irrelevant and they are losing power. By paying attention your giving them power. Stop contributing to it.

                If you care about the people of PR then vote for people who support PR, which is the best you can do other than attempt to educate people on the mistreatment of their people and what colonization does to the disenfranchised. It’s a national problem, not a party problem, and especially not some irrelevant shock comedians problem.

                  • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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                    1 month ago

                    What seems like trolling to me is pretending to care about racism when all you’re really doing is jumping into a human centipede of unoriginal ideas that make the problem worse. Why does anyone actually care what a comedian says at a political rally. This is the 10th worst thing these people have said this week.

                    This country doesn’t give a fuck about the Puerto Ricans, they show it with the policies, their business practices, their racist subjugation and disregard for their culture. But yeah the dude who makes joke to tear people down is the problem. Do I need to also tell you that white supremacists are also invited to proud boys rally, that’s waters wet and fires hot. Big fucking shock this whole thing is.

                    This whole thread is people just saying stuff so that the other people will agree with them and wait for validation. It’s a travesty of modern human adaptation and it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

    • sinedpick@awful.systems
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      1 month ago

      No, it was a racist joke and an attempt to stir up hate for an “other.” But keep going on bleating your “well akshually” and broadcasting your moron status.

      • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        The point is that the people who are so appalled by this, are the same people who know nothing about the the people they are supposedly protecting while simultaneously disregarding how the people they are defending have been treated both historically and presently.

        The same thing can be said about the Hawaiians and Samoans and the Chamorros. These are colonized peoples with a relevant and significant problems caused overwhelmingly by the mistreatment of the US government. Tony Hinchcliffe and all other ignorant puppets are irrelevant. Stop giving attention to the wrong things. PR has real issues that need to be addressed today, and they lack real representation due to poor policy. These are things we can do something about. Who cares about some rally, who actually watches this bullshit.

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
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      1 month ago

      “It’s just a joke bro, they aren’t even a race” made me chuckle. The best part was doubling down at the end that it’s really America that’s racist. Great satire, even if unintentional.

      • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Trying to Streisand a shit comedian is the joke. This is why PR will never be treated with respect.

          • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            How is starting a conversation about actual Puerto Ricans, to divert attention away from a bullshit political rally racist? You seem to have missed my point completely. I am calling out people for giving attention to this hack comedian instead of the actual problems the Borinqueños face every day. I don’t think the majority of the people here who are so appalled at this non-sense actually care about the people of Puerto Rico. They just want to ‘thoughts and prayers’ their way to end supposed racism.

            Instead of spreading more hate for things that don’t really matter. I would encourage you to learn about the people of all the colonized territories of the US. Name calling isn’t helping anyone.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      Really? You want to make it a semantics argument about what specific type of bigotry this was?

      • oxomoxo@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Read my many other replies. That’s not my point, not what I am saying. Maybe I said it poorly but I am saying that people don’t bother to learn about the people they are so offended for.

        People are screaming racist about a guy who does this for over a decade as a living. This is a Tuesday for this guy, nothing new, nothing shocking. It’s like being offended that a butcher kills animals, it’s in the name, he tears people down for money.

        The republican party does this shit daily, this isn’t even the worst thing that group has done this week. The difference is this comedian is paid to make this shit up while everyone else actually means it.

        What I have a problem with is people being offended on behalf of the people of Puerto Rico, because it smells of fake virtue. Like when people are offended at school shootings but nothing changes. Because PR has been suffering for a century and no one in the US cares or even bothers to learn the fundamentals of their culture, like for instance that Puerto Rican is a nationality, not a race. A huge amount of Americans don’t even realize it’s a part of US and that they are citizens.

        Yet a mediocre roast comic makes some inappropriate jokes and now it’s time to pay attention to PR. I don’t buy it, a month from now no one will remember and PR will continue to be the bastard step-child of the US.