Donald Trump denies knowing the comedian who did a stream of racist and sexist remarks at his Sunday rally at new yorkhis Madison Square Garden, ABC News reports.

Tony Hinchliffe, the comedian in question, was part of a list of MAGA personalities and celebrities which infuriated the crowd before the former president spoke.

As part of his set, he referred to Puerto Rico that “floating trash”sparking outrage from residents of the U.S. territory and millions of Puerto Ricans living in other states across the nation.

ABC senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott asked the former president about Hinchcliffe’s performance.

“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told her, before insisting he hadn’t heard the comments that angered many in the Latino community.

News organizations have repeatedly played a clip of the comedian’s comments since Sunday night, and it was perhaps the most widely discussed element of the Madison Square Garden rally.

Scott pressed Trump on what he made of the remarks, but instead of denouncing them, he repeated that he didn’t hear them.

Trump’s campaign distanced itself from the comments, with spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez saying in a statement: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Hinchcliffe also made offensive comments about Jews and black Americans.

Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz called him a “jackwad” when asked about the comments, recalling the Trump administration’s treatment of the island territory in 2017 after it was hit by Hurricane Maria.

“Does anyone remember how (Trump) responded to (Hurricane) Maria in Puerto Rico? It was absolutely horrible,” Walz said during a Twitch live stream on Sunday. “Down there insulting people. The people of Puerto Rico are citizens, they pay taxes, they are in the military.”

Hinchcliffe has since defended himself, telling X: “These people have no sense of humour. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist.”

“I love Puerto Rico and vacationing there. I made fun of everyone… look at the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim…it might be time to change your tampon.”

The tampon comment refers to a name Republicans gave Walz — “Tampon Tim” — because, as governor of Minnesota, he signed legislation requiring public schools in the state to provide menstrual products in all bathrooms .

The “joke” was condemned by both Democrats and Republicans and even went down with the crowd at the rally.

Kamala Harris revealed its plans for the US territory on the same day. “Puerto Rico is home to some of the most talented, innovative and ambitious people in our nation,” she said. “Puerto Ricans deserve a president who sees and invests in this force.”

Puerto Rican rapper The bad bunny threw her support behind Harris by sharing the campaign video of her plans for Puerto Ricans to her 45 million Instagram followers.

He shared a clip of Harris saying, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did and didn’t do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and competent leader.”

Jennifer Lopez She also took the opportunity to share her support for Harris, reposting the video with Puerto Rican flag emojis and a ballot box. She will campaign alongside Harris in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin shared the clip of Hinchcliffe’s offensive joke on Instagram and said: “This is what they think of us. Vote for @kamalaharris.”