Former President Trump says he does not know the controversial comedian who performed at his Madison Square Garden rally and didn’t hear him speak — his most extensive public comments yet on the controversy surrounding Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks about Puerto Rico.
“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told the ABC News’s Rachel Scott in an interview published on Tuesday.
Hinchcliffe was featured at Trump’s Sunday rally in New York City, sparking backlash for describing Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage.” He also made a crude joke about Latinos, babies and immigration.
Trump told the network he hadn’t listened to Hinchcliffe’s remarks, and reiterated that same sentiment when Scott asked what his thoughts were about them.
Trump notably did not touch on the controversy during his Atlanta rally on Monday either, instead boasting about the attendance of the Madison Square Garden event.
But Trump’s campaign has maintained that Hinchcliffe’s views do not represent the campaign as it grapples with controversy swirling around the New York City campaign event.
Several GOP members of Congress have spoken out against the Puerto Rico comments.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said on “Fox & Friends” on Monday that “it was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste.”
“Obviously, that joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or our campaign, and I think it is sad that the media will pick up on one joke that was made by a comedian, rather than the truths that were shared by the phenomenal list of speakers that we had,” she said.
