JD Vance has said he is “so over” people getting offended by racist jokes as he came out in defense of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial comments at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
At a campaign event in Racine, Wisconsin, on Monday, the Ohio senator weighed in on the widespread backlash to Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico – a joke that the Trump campaign has since tried to distance itself from.
“I haven’t seen the joke. Maybe it’s a stupid racist joke, maybe it’s not,” Vance said.
“I’m not going to comment on the specifics of the joke, but I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America. I’m just I’m so over it.”
“Can we all just take a chill pill and take a joke from time to time,” Vance added when an NBC reporter questioned him about the commnts. “This is ridiculous. We are not going to restore the greatness of American civilization if we get offended at every little thing.”
At the New York rally on Sunday, Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” and made other offensive comments about Jewish and Black Americans.
The comments – which were not condemned by any of the following speakers at Trump’s event – prompted an instant backlash.
Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and singer Ricky Martin all publicly backed Kamala Harris following the fallout.
Tim Walz and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded while on live streaming platform Twitch, where the Minnesota governor called Hinchcliffe a “jackwad” and recalled how Trump responded to Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017.
“Does anybody remember how [Trump] responded to [hurricane] Maria in Puerto Rico? It was absolutely horrific,” Walz said. “Down there, insulting people. People in Puerto Rico are citizens, they pay taxes, they’re in the military.”
Ocasio-Cortez added that the joke was “super upsetting.” She said: “When you have some a-hole calling Puerto Rico floating garbage, know that that’s what they think about you. That’s what they think about anybody who makes less money than them.”
Hinchcliffe addressed the pair’s criticism in a post on X, where he claimed they had taken the joke “out of context.”
Several Republicans also slammed Hinchcliffe for the comments and the Trump campaign tried to put distance between the former president and the comedian.
In a statement, senior Trump adviser Danielle Alvarez claimed the joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
One of Trump’s top allies, Senator Marco Rubio, also called out the comments but defended the former president from the backlash. “Puerto Rico isn’t garbage, it’s home to fellow American citizens who have made tremendous contributions to our country,” Rubio posted on X.
“I understand why some people were offended by a comedian’s jokes last night. But those weren’t Trump’s words.”
