Puerto Rico Republican chief demands Trump apology for rally’s racist remarks

The president of the Republican party’s branch in Puerto Rico has said he will not vote for Donald Trump unless he apologises for racist remarks made at his rally referring to the US island territory as a “floating island of garbage”.

Outrage even among fellow Republicans is continuing to mount after the racist insult at the Republican nominee’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, with the podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe coming under fire for his inflammatory comments made about Puerto Rico in the opening speech.

The rally featured nearly 30 speakers, with some of them making a series of racially offensive remarks about Latinos, Black Americans and Jewish citizens.

“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,” Hinchcliffe said, among other controversial remarks, including singling out a Black man for a remark about watermelons.

In the hours following, Democrats, celebrities and Hispanic groups on both sides of the political aisle condemned the comments as “offensive” and “derogatory”.

But on Monday, Angel M Cintrón, a former member of Puerto Rico’s state legislature and the Republican party’s current chair on the island, also said he would withhold his support from Trump unless he personally apologised for the racist remarks.

“Right now we have no business and no relationship with Trump,” Cintrón said during a Puerto Rican talkshow. “If Donald Trump doesn’t apologise, we won’t vote for him.”

“Puerto Rico is always first,” he added.

Cintrón’s demand comes after the archbishop of San Juan, Roberto O González Nieves, wrote to the former president also urging him to apologise.

“I enjoy a good joke,” the archbishop wrote. “However, humor has its limits. It should not insult or denigrate the dignity and sacredness of people. Hinchcliffe’s remarks do not only provoke sinister laughter but hatred.”

He added: “It is not sufficient for your campaign to apologise. It is important that you, personally, apologise for these comments.”

Trump has not yet apologised or commented on the comedian’s racist comments.

However, the swift reaction from prominent Puerto Rican figures in the entertainment industry on social media prompted his campaign to issue a rare defensive statement, with Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the campaign, claiming that the comment about Puerto Rico “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign”.

Other members of the Republican party have attempted to distance themselves from the comments.

“This joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans!” Rick Scott, a Republican senator from Florida wrote in a post on X.

Republican congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents parts of Miami and has participated in recent Trump events, said: “Disgusted by @TonyHinchcliffe’s racist comment calling Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’

‘‘This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values’’, she wrote on X. ‘‘Puerto Rico sent 48,000+ soldiers to Vietnam, with over 345 Purple Hearts awarded. This bravery deserves respect. Educate yourself!”

While Puerto Ricans residing on the island are not able to vote for the president, two-thirds of Puerto Ricans residing in the US can cast their ballots in the states where they currently live. In 2021, an estimated 5.8 million people of Puerto Rican origin lived in the US.

According to sources inside Trump’s campaign, his associates are increasingly concerned about the impact on the vote of their political adversaries labelling him as a racist and fascist.

This is not the first time that some of Hinchcliffe’s remarks have ignited controversy because of their offensive nature.

In 2021, Hinchcliffe, a standup comedian from Austin, Texas, whose podcast Kill Tony has 1.89 million subscribers on YouTube, sparked outrage by using a racial slur in reference to the American-Chinese comedian Peng Deng during a comedy performance and declined to offer an apology.

When questioned by Variety regarding the racist remarks, Hinchcliffe said: “I knew that what I had done was not wrong. It was so dumbfounding to me because it was a joke, and my stance is that comedians should never apologise for a joke.”

On Monday, Matt Muehling, the house guitarist for the Kill Tony band, posted a statement on Instagram by Puerto Rico’s Democratic chair, Luis Dávila Pernas, denouncing Hinchcliffe’s comments at the Trump rally.