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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a statement this afternoon regarding his friend and roast comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, and the joke heard 'round the world at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally last Sunday.
Kennedy said he was "dismayed but not shocked" at the offensive joke, considering Hinchcliffe's reputation for "shattering orthodoxies and offending sensitivities" as the "king of roast comedy."
The joke fell flat on the audience, but that didn't stop the "DNC's allied corporate media" from weaponizing the joke to try to stifle Trump's support among Latinos.
Kennedy said, "I knew the joke would also hurt the feelings of my many Puerto Rican friends who are accustomed to watching politicians, military brass, and corporate leaders use the island as a dumping ground for substandard business practices while blaming Puerto Ricans for their poverty, poor health, and environmental degradation on the island."
He went on to blame big pharma and processed food manufacturers for burying Puerto Rico "in excess packaging material and toxic waste."
Kennedy shared his strong ties to the island, including the month he spent in a maximum-security prison when he was fighting to stop what he described as "the Naval bombardment of Vieques."
"The Navy’s illegal dumping of millions of tons of highly toxic Naval ordnance had poisoned the fish and birds, destroyed the beaches and forests, and left the island’s people with the highest cancer rates and the highest unemployment in the Caribbean," says Kennedy who named my youngest son Aidan Vieques "because the first time I saw him was in the prison’s visitor room," he says.
"The Pentagon left behind millions of tons of unexploded ordnance and toxic waste despite repeated promises and multiple court orders that they remove it," said Kennedy. "This is some of the “garbage” that Tony was referring to in his unfortunate joke."
Kennedy says that most of the Puerto Ricans with whom he has spoken know the joke does not represent Trump’s feelings toward the island and its people. That includes former Governor Ricky Rosello, who said that Trump had done more for Puerto Rico than any other president in decades, recalling Trump's trip after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017.
"Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do,” said Trump at his Allentown, Pennsylvania, rally on Tuesday where he promised to deliver "the best future for Puerto Ricans and Hispanic Americans."
Zoraida Buxó, Puerto Rico’s shadow Senator, endorsed Trump at that rally, too, saying, “I strongly and fully support and endorse Donald J. Trump to be our 47th president — to make America great again and, of course, to make Puerto Rico shine again.”
“We need this man back in the White House. We need this man to be our commander-in-chief. He will make us feel safe, and he will protect us,” Buxó said at the rally.
Kennedy said he was confident that Trump would look out for the best interests of Puerto Ricans and Hispanic Americans should he win on November 5.
You can read Kennedy's full comments on X.
Tony Hinchcliffe is my friend. His special comedic aptitude for shattering orthodoxies and offending sensitivities has made him the king of roast comedy. I was therefore dismayed but not shocked at his offensive joke about Puerto Rico at President Trump’s Madison Square Garden…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) November 1, 2024
