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Joe Rogan has rushed to Tony Hinchliffe’s protection, claiming the comic’s racist Puerto Rico joke really stemmed from him being “environmentally aware.”
Hinchcliffe continues to face backlash following his look at Donald Trump’s Madison Sq. Backyard rally on Sunday, the place he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of rubbish.”
Following the feedback, a number of high-profile Puerto Rican musicians, together with Jennifer Lopez and Dangerous Bunny, have voiced their assist for Vice President Kamala Harris, with the previous set to affix the Democratic candidate at a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday.
However, on Wednesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Expertise, Rogan sided with Hinchcliffe over the scandal.
“Right here’s the place the joke comes from. Tony is definitely obsessive about the Pacific Rubbish patch… So there’s this landfill in Puerto Rico that’s manner overflowed. Puerto Rico has a legit trash drawback as a result of they’re on an island, the place you gonna put it?” Rogan defined.
He continued: “In order that they have landfills and their landfills are manner over capability, in order that’s the place the joke got here from. The joke got here from Tony being environmentally aware.”
Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million inhabitants produce virtually a tonne of trash per yr, in keeping with a report from the Environmental Safety Company. Restricted recycling infrastructure implies that lower than 10 % of stable waste is recycled on the island and virtually all of its landfill websites are at – or close to – capability.
Regardless of defending him, Rogan additionally revealed he had beforehand warned Hinchcliffe concerning the offensive gag.
“I didn’t know what bits he was going to do, however then I heard he did that joke, and I used to be like, ‘Oh, Jesus, Tony. Right here it comes,’” Rogan stated.
The podcaster claimed that, if he received the chance, he would have given the comic a stern piece of recommendation previous to taking the stage: “Don’t you f***ing dare do this joke.”
Rogan, nevertheless, stated he has beforehand warned Hinchcliffe about potential fallout from cracking the offensive joke.
“I stated to him, I am going, ‘Dude, that’s the one which’s gonna get you stabbed,” he stated.
Rogan, who welcomed Trump on his present on Friday and was interviewing his working mate JD Vance on Wednesday, stated that the political stage was a nasty surroundings for comedy.
That stated, he insisted “it’s a humorous joke.”
“I’ve gotta inform you, that joke kills at comedy golf equipment. I don’t just like the joke, [but] it kills,” the podcaster stated. “It’s similar to, in the event you’re Puerto Rican and also you hear that within the viewers, you’re like [groans]. However it’s a humorous joke. The joke does properly.”
Democrats, Latino celebrities and the Puerto Rican neighborhood have condemned the joke as overtly racist – in addition to condemning Trump for platforming it.
Trump has tried to distance himself from it, claiming to not know Hinchcliffe – and attempting to shift consideration onto President Joe Biden’s remarks the place, whereas responding to the Hinchcliffe joke furore, he appeared to name the previous president’s supporters “rubbish.”
In an try to capitalize on Biden’s so-called gaffe, Trump dressed up in an orange high-visibility vest and clambered right into a MAGA-branded rubbish truck earlier than his Wisconsin rally on Wednesday.
“How do you want my rubbish truck?” Trump requested reporters. “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
The stunt comes regardless of Trump repeatedly calling your entire US a “rubbish can” in a number of marketing campaign rallies in current days.