Who Is Tony Hinchcliffe? What We Know About The Controversial Comedian From Trump's MSG Rally
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump has never shied away from controversy, and his supporters are generally forgiving of his outspokenness. However, when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe spoke at his October 2024 rally at Madison Square Garden, some of Trump's allies were left in disbelief. Among other questionable jokes, Hinchcliffe included some eyebrow-raising commentary on Puerto Rico, saying: "I don't know if you guys 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."
Off-color jokes can be funny in some cases, but Hinchcliffe's description of the U.S. territory was in extremely poor taste, even for a Trump rally. Hinchcliffe's comments have generated backlash on both sides of the aisle and led Trump to try to create some distance between the comedian and himself. Trump went the plausible deniability route, telling ABC News: "I don't know [Hinchcliffe], someone put him up there. I don't know who he is."
Unfortunately, given Hinchcliffe's history of standing by his racist jokes, it's unlikely the controversial comedian will apologize anytime soon. Here's everything we know about Hinchcliffe and his willingness to cross the line for laughs.
Tony Hinchcliffe has built a career on roasting others
Long before his 2024 Donald Trump rally appearance, Tony Hinchcliffe had a long history of working on Comedy Central roasts, both as a writer and a performer. For example, he wrote Martha Stewart's unforgettably funny material for "The Roast of Justin Bieber," and even gave Anne Coulter her lines for "The Roast of Rob Lowe." However, Hinchcliffe's roasting repertoire doesn't end with the popular Comedy Central series; he also appeared at Fusion's 2016 "All Def Snoop Dogg Smoke Out" to roast the rapper, whose own feelings about Trump have been a rollercoaster.
When not participating in an official roast, Hinchcliffe still employs his brand of insult comedy in stand-up sets and on his podcast, "Kill Tony," shamelessly taking potshots at everyone from politicians to movie stars. For example, in his 2020 stand-up special, "Making Friends," he riffed on the sexual misconduct controversy actor James Franco faced by saying (via YouTube): "Hear what happened to James Franco? Not much." Hinchcliffe often drifts into even raunchier topics, proving that nothing is off limits in his view of comedy.
The comedian has previously used racist jokes in his stand-up
Tony Hinchcliffe wasn't the only attention-grabber at the Trump rally, but the comedian is no stranger to facing criticism and consequences for racist jokes. In 2021, Hinchcliffe used a racial slur in reference to fellow comedian Peng Dang, which nearly derailed his career. Following the incident, his talent agency dropped him, and several planned public appearances were canceled.
Some comedians are quick to express remorse about making hurtful comments, but Hinchcliffe stuck to his guns. As Dang explained to USA Today, Hinchcliffe never tried to make amends: "Tony never came up to me, talked to me or apologized. I don't think he thinks that was offensive." Even when speaking to Variety four years later, he said: "It was so dumbfounding to me because it was a joke, and my stance is that comedians should never apologize for a joke, should never stop working if everyone comes after them and should never slow down."
Considering that, it's no surprise that he has been quick to stand up for himself after the rally. In response to Tim Walz denouncing him, Hinchcliffe fired back on X, formerly Twitter: "These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his "busy schedule" to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist." Clearly, the comedian has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to standing by even his most controversial statements.