Joe Rogan came to MAGA comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s defense during his podcast on Wednesday, but admitted that he told Hinchcliffe, “Don’t you f---ing dare do that joke.”
Hinchcliffe set off a firestorm of criticism after he took the stage at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday and took several jabs at different races and ethnicities, and Puerto Ricans especially, which led to several prominent Puerto Rican entertainers including Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez, throwing their support behind Kamala Harris.
The insult that got the “Kill Tony” host the most negative attention at the rally was when he called Puerto Rico, an American territory, a “floating island of garbage” at the televised Republican rally.
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On the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan both defended Hinchcliffe’s “joke” and claimed that he had warned him, “That’s the one that’s gonna get you stabbed.”
“I’ve gotta tell you, that joke kills at comedy clubs,” Rogan, who first suggested Hinchcliffe write jokes for Trump to use at his rallies, said Wednesday. “I don’t like the joke, but it kills.” Rogan said Hinchcliffe was set up to fail since rallies are “a bad environment for comedy,” and took issue with former President Barack Obama for recounting the joke “like it was a statement.”
“That’s really f---ed up,” Rogan said, “You know that’s a joke. That’s like going to a Quentin Tarantino movie [and saying], ‘And then the man killed that woman.’ Like, he didn’t really kill that woman—this is a movie.” That said, Hinchcliffe should have taken his advice, Rogan said, since he tells comedians, “Don’t ever do comedy at something that’s not a comedy event.”
“It’s a political rally, and you’re doing jokes like you’re in a comedy club. Don’t do it!”
Ultimately Rogan thinks the backlash to Hinchcliffe’s jokes will “blow over, just like all these things do” but said Hinchcliffe is “going through the storm” right now.
“There’s people that are always going to hate someone like Tony, and it’s going to make other people love him more,” Rogan said, predicting that his friend will “get through it” and “come back better.”
