NEW YORK (AP) — Among the nearly 30 speakers that recently warmed up the audience Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe received the most attention for racist comments.

‘I don’t know if you know this, but there is literally a floating waste island in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said, later including lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jewish and black people.

The comments have drawn condemnation from Democrats and Puerto Rican celebrities, with Ricky Martin sharing a clip from Hinchcliffe’s set with the caption: “This is what they think of us.”

The Trump campaign took the rare step of distancing itself from Hinchcliffe. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.

Here’s what you need to know about Hinchcliffe, his comedic style and the reactions to his comments about Madision Square Garden.

Who is Tony Hinchcliffe?

Raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Hinchcliffe is a stand-up comedian who specializes in the Roast style, in which comedians take the stage to titillate a celebrity victim with personal and often tasteless jokes. He has written and appeared on eight Comedy Central Roasts, including those for Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady.

Even fellow comedians are not immune. At the Snoop Dogg roast, Hichcliffe made a joke referring to comedian Luenell, who is black, who was on the Underground Railroad. Of the honoree, he said, “Snoop, you look like the California Raisin who got hooked on heroin.”

He had a Netflix special in 2016 – “Tony Hinchcliffe: One Shot” – which was filmed in one continuous take. But he is perhaps best known for hosting the Kill Tony podcast since 2013, in which both professional and amateur comedians perform for 60 seconds in front of a panel of judges and then take their criticism.

He started opening for comics like Joe Rogan, who did a three-hour interview with Trump on his podcast last week, and Jeff Ross and is credited with writing Martha Stewart’s raunchy zingers for a Justin Bieber roast.

He has faced backlash before, most notably after making racist comments about fellow comedian and Asian-American Peng Dang during a performance in Austin, Texas, in 2021. Hinchcliffe was dropped by his talent agency, WME, and several of his scheduled appearances were canceled. He never apologized.

“I knew what I had done wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t even the worst thing I did that week,’ he told Variety earlier this year. “It was so baffling to me because it was a joke, and my position is that comedians should never apologize for a joke, never stop working when everyone is coming after them, and never slow down.”

How have others reacted to Hinchcliffe’s Trump rally routine?

Democratic vice presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz called Hinchcliffe an “idiot,” and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat with Puerto Rican roots, called it “super disturbing.”

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who will be up for re-election this year in a state heavily populated by Puerto Ricans, wrote on social media that the “joke bombed for a reason” and that “Puerto Ricans are great people and great Americans!”

How did Hinchcliffe react this time?

Roasted (or offensive) comedians often claim that there are no rules in comedy and that everything, no matter how sensitive, is fair game. Hinchcliffe responded to his Madison Square Garden set with a variation on don’t expect an apology.

“These people have no sense of humor,” he complained on corpses. I love Puerto Rico and my vacation there.”

Hinchcliffe has previously made controversial jokes about Sean “Diddy” Combs, George Floyd and the The Baltimore Bridge collapses.

“I think people need to realize that we are professionals. And yes, of course, we have to deal with the consequences of what happens,” he told Variety.