Originally published at National Catholic Register
Archbishop Roberto González of San Juan, Puerto Rico, is asking former president Donald Trump to personally apologize to Puerto Ricans after a comedian told a joke about the island during a campaign rally that some found offensive.
“I call upon you, Mr. Trump, to disavow these comments as reflecting in any way your personal or political viewpoints,” Archbishop González wrote in an open letter directed to Trump.
“It is not sufficient for your campaign to apologize,” he added. “It is important that you, personally, apologize for these comments.”
Stand-up comedian and host of the “Kill Tony” podcast Tony Hinchcliffe spoke at the Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden, an arena in Manhattan, New York City. He told a series of jokes for about 12 minutes, one of which mocked Puerto Rico.
“I don’t know if you guys know this,” Hinchcliffe said. “But there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now.”
“Yeah — I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he added.
The joke did not get a laugh but was instead met with boos and groans from the crowd, after which Hinchcliffe nodded and said: “OK, all right, OK, we’re getting there.”
Hinchcliffe
