Trump: 'Nobody's Fault' We Didn't Vet Comedian

Former President Trump says he doesn't know Tony Hinchcliffe and doesn't know who booked him for the MAGA rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but admits he "probably shouldn't have been there." The comedian caused an uproar with jokes widely described as racist. In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday, Trump said he has "no idea" who Hinchcliffe is and "never saw him, never heard of him and don't wanna hear of him," per the Daily Beast. "They put a comedian in, which everybody does, you throw comedians in, you don't vet them and go crazy, it's nobody's fault, but somebody said some bad things," he went on. Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, meanwhile, criticizes Trump campaign staffers as "dunderheads" for not vetting Hinchcliffe, per NewsNation.

Trump said he didn't think Hinchcliffe's comments—including his referring to Puerto Rico as "a floating island of garbage"—were "a big deal" but that critics were trying to "make a big deal" out of the fact that "somebody that has nothing to do with the party, nothing to do with us—said something." "I don't want anybody making nasty or stupid jokes," Trump said. "But I don't know who it is, I don't even know who put him in and I can't imagine it's a big deal." Jon Stewart defended Hinchcliffe on the Daily Show on Monday night, saying he's a "very funny" roast comedian. He then aired a clip from Hinchcliffe's roast of Tom Brady, in which Hinchcliffe said fellow comedian Jeff Ross is "so Jewish he only watches football for the coin toss."

"There's something wrong with me. I find that guy very funny," said Stewart, who is Jewish, per Entertainment Weekly. "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," he said. "But to be fair, the guy is really just doing what he does." Actor-comedian Aubrey Plaza, who is of Puerto Rican descent, isn't laughing, however. Speaking Tuesday at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards, Plaza said her grandmother thankfully isn't alive to hear Hinchcliffe's comments, per Newsweek. "But if she was alive today, I think she would say, 'Tony Hinchcliffe, go f--- yourself'—and yes, the Wall Street Journal can quote me on that." (More Tony Hinchcliffe stories.)