JD Vance Says He’s ‘So Over’ Being Offended By Racist Jokes

The vice presidential candidate said he hadn’t heard a comedian's offensive remark about Puerto Rico, which has rocked the Trump campaign.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said Monday that he hadn’t heard the offensive remark about Puerto Rico a comedian made at former President Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday, but he said even if was a “stupid racist joke,” he was “so over” people getting offended at “every little thing.”

Trump’s presidential campaign is facing outrage after far-right comedian Tony Hinchcliffe opened the rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden with an offensive set that veered into racist tropes about Latinos and Jews. At one point, Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” and joked that Black people carved watermelons instead of pumpkins on Halloween.

The remarks drew fierce criticism from Puerto Rican megastars such as Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin and condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including many Republicans in Florida. The Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks within hours of the set, saying the joke did not “reflect the views” of the former president.

Vance, Trump’s running mate, responded to several questions on the campaign trail Monday about whether the campaign was worried how the remarks would go over with voters as some are casting early ballots now while others prepare to go to the polls next week.

“I’ve heard about the joke; I haven’t actually seen the joke,” Vance said at a rally in Wisconsin. “I think that it’s telling that Kamala Harris’ closing message is essentially that all of Donald Trump’s voters are Nazis and you should get really pissed off about a comedian telling a joke.”