‘Go f*** yourself’: Actress Aubrey Plaza cuts loose as both sides of US politics scramble to defuse massive gaffes

Aubrey Plaza is hardly alone in condemning a stand-up comic’s controversial joke – but no one has been blunter than her.

Aubrey Plaza has some thoughts about the Puerto Rico joke that's threatened to derail the Trump campaign.

Both parties in American politics are struggling to deal with the fallout after derogatory remarks from their own side, which are threatening to alienate a critical chunk of the voting population with less than a week left before the presidential election.

The Democrats are scrambling to disavow comments by President Joe Biden, who yesterday suggested Donald Trump’s supporters were “garbage”.

He was responding to the other remark in question here, a joke by one of Mr Trump’s hand-picked warm-up speakers at his rally in New York earlier this week. Stand-up comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico, an American territory which is home to more than three million US citizens, was a “floating island of garbage”.

Puerto Ricans are a significant voting bloc in multiple key swing states – there are half a million people of that heritage in Pennsylvania and more than a million in Florida.

For context, the result in Pennsylvania was decided by a margin of just 80,000 votes at the last election in 2020.

So, two comments slagging off a chunk of the US electorate. An election days away. Some rather panicked damage control from both campaigns. This probably isn’t where either of them wanted to be, entering the proverbial home stretch.

US Vice President Kamala Harris. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

Former US president Donald Trump. Picture: Charly Triballeau/AFP

‘Go f*** yourself’

Mr Trump held a rally at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden a few days ago, with a long line-up of speakers taking the stage before him. One of them Mr Hinchcliffe.

“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,” he quipped to the crowd.

That joke, and another concerning people of Hispanic heritage, caused a backlash.

“These Latinos, they love making babies. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country,” he said in that other joke, referring to the 60 million or so Latinos who live in the US, many of whom are citizens.

The unsavoury remark about Puerto Rico could have electoral implications, as Politico reported yesterday, saying it had “spread like wildfire” among Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. There is no more crucial swing state.

Tony Hinchcliffe at the rally in New York. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

“Puerto Ricans, some of whom had been indifferent about which candidate to support, are now furious with Trump, providing an eleventh-hour jolt to Kamala Harris’s campaign efforts there,” Politico reported.

“If we weren’t engaged before, we are all paying attention now,” said Victor Martinez, the owner of a Spanish-speaking radio station.

The insulting joke about Puerto Rico was shared widely on social media, including by celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Bad Bunny.

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Innovator Awards today, actress Aubrey Plaza was remarkably blunt.

“As a Puerto Rican woman, I just 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,” she said.

“Thankfully, my sweet abuelita (grandmother) wasn’t here to hear that disgusting remark. But if she was alive today, I think she would say: ‘Tony Hinchcliffe, go f*** yourself.’”

The Trump operation has responded to the uproar by saying Mr Hinchcliffe’s joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign”.

The Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, conceded that the joke was “maybe stupid” and “racist”, but argued Americans should “stop getting so offended”.

Aubrey Plaza speaking at the Wall Street Journal-hosted event. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

‘Disgusting’: Biden’s insult blasted

Mr Vance felt differently about Mr Biden’s remark. Today he labelled it “disgusting”, and said “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half the country”.

The President made the offending comment during a web meeting hosted by VotoLatino, a non-profit organisation that encourages young Hispanic Americans to vote.

“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community,” Mr Biden said during the call.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’.

“They’re good, decent, honourable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.

“His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

Mr Biden on the stream in question.

Ms Harris tried to lessen the impact of Mr Biden’s comments, telling reporters that “unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are ‘the enemy from within’”.

“He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table,” said the Vice President.

That might not be enough to neutralise the damage, according to Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who is best known for running focus groups with undecided voters.

“It’s going to be huge, because this is not some comedian saying something stupid and offensive at a rally where he should have been just basically disinvited,” Mr Luntz told CNN today.

“This is the President of the United States, endorsing his Vice President, saying something – and I know that there’s different interpretations about what he said – it’s still inappropriate. He still shouldn’t be doing it.

“And I’ve watched Trump already seize on this. The ‘basket of deplorables’ was significant, was meaningful in 2016. In 2024, I can promise you that this is going to drive Trump turnout. And he’s doing it already.

“I’m sure there’s going to be ads on as soon as tonight about this.

“This may be a turning point for those final 3 per cent, and that’s all it is, who still need to be persuaded.”

During the 2016 campaign, Mr Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton referred to some of his supporters as “deplorables”. The remark haunted her right up until election day.