Shortly after comic Tony Hinchcliffe appeared at Donald Trump’s huge Madison Sq. Backyard rally this weekend and known as Puerto Rico a “floating trash island,” the web got here alive with Google searches for his title rise up. Actually, as Nate Silver identified, Hinchcliffe’s search quantity has surpassed that of Taylor Swift. The apparent implication appears to be that many individuals had no thought who Hinchcliffe was and shortly tried to ascertain the id of the person who had simply insulted the island.
Hinchcliffe’s feedback set off a political firestorm, with some commentators even questioning whether or not the viral remarks – that are positive to offend some members of the U.S.’s massive Puerto Rican inhabitants – might result in Trump’s defeat. One downside for the Trump marketing campaign is that 2022 census information reveals that about 5.9 million individuals dwelling in the US are ethnically Puerto Rican. Actually, almost 500,000 Puerto Ricans stay within the carefully watched swing state of Pennsylvania alone.
These viral jokes had main political penalties, with many politicians — each Democratic and Republican — denouncing them. The Trump marketing campaign has distanced itself from Hinchcliffe (“the joke doesn’t mirror the views of President Trump or the marketing campaign,” a consultant informed Fox), though they could have reviewed his materials earlier than publishing it. The joke additionally apparently impressed Puerto Rican rapper Dangerous Bunny, thought-about probably the most common artists amongst Gen Z Individuals, to endorse Kamala Harris for president.
Along with outrage, Hinchcliffe’s joke appeared to spark confusion, or at the least curiosity, amongst many individuals, a few of whom could have by no means heard of the comic. Here is a screenshot of parallel Google search statistics for Taylor Swift and Hinchcliffe, with Hinchcliffe’s leads to blue:
Google Analytics associated to Hinchcliffe reveals some attention-grabbing regional metrics. For instance, in Florida, house to about 1.2 million Puerto Ricans, Hinchcliffe’s nationality is a prime Google search end result. The Miami Herald, one in all Florida’s largest newspapers, reported that native politicians, together with those that assist Trump, got here out to sentence Hinchcliffe’s remarks. Maria Elvira Salazar, a U.S. consultant from Miami, mentioned she was “disgusted” by the joke. “Trump should not overlook that in Florida, roughly 800,000 Puerto Ricans have the flexibility to train their proper to vote,” mentioned La Mesa Boricua de Florida, a Puerto Rican political advocacy group primarily based in Florida.
That mentioned, Google search curiosity seems to be closely targeted on predominantly “blue” states, suggesting that liberal residents in these areas have not heard of Hinchcliffe or his model of fringe overlord comedy. Search quantity was highest in Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California. Hinchcliffe appears to be common with a sure demographic, as his podcast has almost 2 million subscribers on YouTube.
Hinchcliffe did not simply disparage America’s island territories on Sunday. He additionally made a joke about black audiences and watermelons (“Take a look at this man, oh my God. Wow. I am simply kidding, that is a good friend of mine. He had a Halloween get together final night time. We had plenty of enjoyable. We Let’s Lower a Watermelon”), shared his ideas on the connection between Hispanics, immigration and contraception (“These Latinos, they prefer to have youngsters too, you already know that. They do it. They do it. There’s no quitting. leeway. A frightening hacking materials problem certainly.
The comic’s racial feedback have gotten him into bother earlier than. In 2021, he was “cancelled” for calling comic Pentagon (whom he launched at a stand-up occasion in Austin) a “soiled little bastard.” Dan later informed USA At present that he was offended by Hinchcliffe’s feedback: “Tony by no means got here as much as me, spoke to me, or apologized. I do not assume he discovered it offensive,” he mentioned . Hinchcliffe was fired by his brokers shortly after the incident unfold. Now, Hinchcliffe has his personal podcast (Killing Tony) and is mates with podcast king Joe Rogan. Actually, on Monday, an outdated clip of Rogan circulated on X by which the podcast host steered Trump ask Hinchcliffe to write down him some jokes.
It’s onerous to clarify what precisely the Trump marketing campaign hopes to attain with the MSG rally. Within the mainstream media, the rally was broadly seen as a quasi-fascist evocation of the MAGA motion’s most abhorrent tendencies. That mentioned, there’s quite a bit happening at Madison Sq. Backyard. Many presidents have held rallies there, and Cyndi Lauper will carry out there later this week. Simply because a big, raucous political rally takes place in New York’s premier occasion middle does not imply it is supposed to emulate the notorious pro-Nazi rally held on the identical location in 1939. Having mentioned that ThatThere have been a ton of racist and sexist issues mentioned on Sunday, and the general tone (at the least to this viewer) actually felt like one in all burgeoning darkness. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez informed a number of information networks she believed the rally was an effort to anger ugly elements of Trump’s base. Perhaps the marketing campaign simply sees it as one other method for Trump to create viral content material. I feel mission completed in that regard.