Donald Trump’s MSG rally was nothing short of a debacle, but the low point was the barrage of unapologetically vile speeches from conveniently ignorant leaders. But thankfully, we have people with backbones among us to stand against them too.
By now, the word’s out everywhere about the insensitive and outright racist remark made shamelessly by Trump’s ally Tony Hinchcliffe in Madison Square Garden during a Republican political rally on Sunday night. Though he calls himself a stand-up comedian, we can see why nobody knew his name up until now—because his “jokes” are nowhere near funny. Thankfully, we have some celebrities with a straight spine who called him out on his disgusting thoughts. Most recently, it’s Aubrey Plaza.
While attending the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards function on the night of Oct. 29, Plaza took a moment out of her time on stage to slam Hinchcliffe’s tasteless and vile remark where he compared Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” Plaza’s grandfather moved to the mainland US from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, when he was 17 years old. So, the actress has roots in the very island that Hinchcliffe disgustingly joked about.
The Agatha All Along star thus felt compelled to weigh in, saying “I just wanted to very quickly respond to the racist joke that was made at that Trump rally about Puerto Rico, where most of my family is from.” And in true Puerto Rican style, Plaza slammed Hinchcliffe in a simple sentence:
“Thankfully, my sweet abuelita wasn’t here to hear that disgusting remark. But if she was alive today, I think she would say, ‘Tony Hinchcliffe, go f**k yourself.'”
The 40-year-old actress was unapologetic about her comment, and continued, “The Wall Street Journal can quote me on that.” The crowd responded with cheers and praises, commending her confidence to take a stand against the MAGA clown. Plaza was originally invited to the event to present basketball player A’ja Wilson as one of the 2024 honorees.
Hinchcliffe’s racist remarks have brought him criticism from nearly everyone with a modicum of decency, except for the one who allowed him a stage to spew his venom and is really responsible. It was only Trump’s senior advisor, Danielle Alvarez, who came to his rescue. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Alvarez said in a statement after the rally. But if that was the case, we’d get an apology from him too.
Previously, the famous Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, who scored a global hit with “Despacito” in 2017, responded to Hinchcliffe through an Instagram story. “We are not OK with this constant hate. It’s been abundantly clear that these people have no respect for us and yet they want our vote. I purposely wrote this in English ’cause yes we’re American too,” he wrote.
With the constant state of things at Trump’s political speeches and rallies, it’s clear that most of the Republicans are experts only in peddling imaginary victories and railing against invented crises. The racism is apparent, and it should bring enough clarity to us on our preferred leader to bring to the presidential chair.