Aubrey Plaza is the latest star with Puerto Rican heritage to fire back at comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial joke about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump‘s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.
Speaking at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards on Tuesday night, the Agatha All Along actress said she wanted to “very quickly respond to the racist joke that was made at that Trump rally about Puerto Rico, where most of my family is from.”
“Thankfully, my sweet abuelita wasn’t here to hear that disgusting remark,” Plaza added, according to video from the event. “But if she was alive today, I think she would say, ‘Tony Hinchcliffe, go fuck yourself.’ And yes, The Wall Street Journal can quote me on that.”
Hinchcliffe, who made lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people during the Sunday night event in New York, said, “I don’t know if you guys 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.”
The remark was immediately criticized by the campaign for Trump’s Democratic presidential rival Kamala Harris as well as Puerto Rican stars like Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, who all posted clips from Harris’ campaign addressing Puerto Rican voters and sharing her plans for helping the territory.
Fellow Puerto Rican Marc Anthony also shared his support for Kamala Harris, who he previously endorsed, as Hinchcliffe’s comments were getting attention on Sunday night.
And on Monday’s The View, co-host Sunny Hostin, spoke out against Trump in response to Hinchcliffe’s remarks.
“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, Americans,” Hostin said. “And we know how to take the trash out, Donald Trump. Trash that has been collecting since 2016, and that’s you Donald Trump. And finally, my fellow Puerto Ricans, trash collection day is Nov. 5, 2024. Don’t forget it.”
Variety captured video of Plaza speaking at the event.
Plaza previously spoke about infusing her heritage into her characters, telling Time for its 2024 “Latino Leaders” package, “I have a different kind of experience than a lot of other Latinx actors because a lot of people don’t even know that I’m half Puerto Rican. It’s something that I always like to remind people of and bring to the table.”
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