Jon Stewart Defends Tony Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rico Jokes at Trump Rally But Questions Wisdom of Having Him There — Watch

Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial jokes at Donald Trump’s campaign rally Sunday made a lot of people mad, but Jon Stewart wasn’t one of them.

“Now obviously, in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key voting demographic? Probably not the best decision by the campaign, politically,” Stewart said on Monday’s The Daily Show. “But, to be fair, the guy’s really just doing what he does.”

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Hinchcliffe’s set from the rally included digs at Puerto Rico. “I don’t know if you guys know this,” he told the crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City, “but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

The jokes were the topic of the next day’s news cycle. On Monday’s The View, co-host Sunny Hostin responded: “This Puerto Rican has something to say about the island that I love, where my family is from. Puerto Rico is trash…? We are Americans, Donald Trump.”

She added: “And we vote,” she stressed, adding that fellow Puerto Ricans Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, Luis Fonsi and Marc Anthony have, combined, “over 345 million followers on Instagram,” whereas the Trump has “about 26 million.” (Watch video of Hostin’s full comments here.)

Stewart played video of Hinchcliffe at Comedy Central’s The Roast of Tom Brady, during which he made similarly off-color remarks. “Yes, yes, of course, terrible, boo,” Stewart said. “There’s something wrong with me. I find that guy very funny. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you.”

In related news, at the top of Monday’s Daily Show, Stewart also acknowledged Comedy Central’s big announcement from earlier in the day: He’s extending his stay as the show’s Monday-night host through December of 2025.

Press PLAY on the video above to watch the segment, then hit the comment with your thoughts.

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