Rubio on Trump rally comedian's Puerto Rico comments: 'Tasteless, but it wasn’t Trump that said it’

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday called racist comments about Puerto Rico made by a comedian at a Trump rally last week “tasteless,” but he also noted “it wasn't Trump that said it.”

“A comedian made a joke, and it was tasteless, but it wasn’t Trump that said it, it wasn’t — this guy’s not gonna be in his Cabinet,” Rubio told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation,” adding that “this comedian's not gonna be a member of his government, he’s certainly not running for anything.”

At a rally for former President Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City last week, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said, "I don't know if you know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now."

“I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe added.

The comments sparked quick backlash from both sides of the political aisle, and a Trump campaign senior adviser said the “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Vice President Harris and her campaign quickly pounced on Hinchcliffe’s comments, with the vice president saying in a post on the social platform X last Sunday that she had “released my plan to help build a brighter future for Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people as president” that day, while “at Donald Trump’s rally, they’re calling Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’”

“In hindsight, the guy probably doesn’t get invited, OK?” Rubio said in his “Face the Nation” appearance. “Especially with a joke like that.”

However, Hinchcliffe also defended himself in a post on X, responding to criticism from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

“These people have no sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe wrote that Sunday. “Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist.”

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign and Hinchcliffe for comment.