I’m not sure what qualifies a comedian to judge other comedians, but I don’t think mixing humor with racial stereotypes is the answer. Tony Hinchcliffe, who became known for his racist remarks targeting minorities at a Trump rally in October, recently signed a deal with Netflix. His deal consists of a solo stand-up special and three spin-off specials for “Kill Tony,” his podcast. In the specials, Hinchcliffe and other panelists will judge aspiring comedians.
This Netflix deal is an insult to the Hispanic community and other minority communities who have been targeted by Hinchcliffe’s insensitive comedy.
During his Trump rally speech last year, Hinchliffe made multiple jabs towards Latinos. One joke included mocking Latinos’ stereotypical huge families.
“It’s wild. And these Latinos, they love making babies too, just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country,” Hinchcliffe said.
The double-meaning in his “pulling out” and “coming inside” joke directed at Latinos, the “baby-makers,” made me feel physically disgusted. No family, regardless of ethnicity, should be looked down upon because of its many members. I’ve never once looked at my large extended family during family reunions and thought, “Wow, we love making babies.” Instead, I look at my family and admire their accomplishments and stories. I strive to be like them: not procreators, but rather, persevering people.
Unfortunately, Hinchcliffe’s lame Latino-based jokes continued by attacking Puerto Rico, the place from which my family originates. “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. Yeah. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said.
According to Variety magazine, Hinchcliffe received a lot of backlash from Latin Americans and political officials, such as former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for his crude remarks. Yet, Hinchcliffe still refused to apologize for his insensitive jokes, and instead, defended them on X.
“These people have no sense of humor. 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 vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set. I’m a comedian, Tim…might be time to change your tampon.”
Hinchliffe mocked Walz for being unable to “take a joke” by telling him to “change his tampon,” referencing the stereotypical view of women as overly emotional. The suggestion that female attributes show weakness and fragility is outdated and disrespectful. I am not inferior because I am a woman, nor because I’m Latina.
The jokes he made during his Trump rally speech were not even taken out of context to portray it as racist; Hinchliffe threw around many racial jokes and comments to people of color in the audience throughout his whole speech. And, on top of it all, he has a history of making racial comments too.
In May of 2021, Asian American comedian Peng Dang performed at a show in Austin where he used the opportunity to speak about the rise in attacks against the Asian community. Right after him, Hinhcliffe stepped onto the stage and performed a set where he mocked the #StopAsianHate movement and Dang’s speech using a Chinese accent. He even directed a racial slur at Dang.
Despite all this blatant racism, Hinchliffe never apologized to Dang. He did, however, receive a lot of criticism because of his inappropriate words and his talent agency, WME, dropped him. He then moved on to discuss conspiracy theories during an appearance on the controversial YouTube show “TRIGGERnometry,” where he claimed that the Chinese media had created an attack against him and that Dang was a Chinese spy.
Hinchliffe’s insensitiveness to the rise in Asian hate after COVID-19 and his offensive jokes demonstrate his blurred line between what is appropriate and inappropriate to speak of in comedy. In an interview with Variety magazine, Hinchcliffe explains that he does not believe comedians should ever apologize for their jokes. According to him, only “high-level stand-up fans” would understand his comedy.
Founder of the Comedy Club at Masters, Grey Dickinson, said that he believes there is a line in comedy. According to Dickinson, mocking an ethnic group is unacceptable; however, roasting celebrities or making jokes about someone with their consent is okay.
“Comedy is unquantifiable, but I think that [Hinchcliffe] is good at roasting people when they do stand-up,” he said.
Dickinson also said that he likes that Hinchliffe is uplifting other comedians. Despite attacking minority groups in his jokes, Hinchliffe does help aspiring comedians by featuring them on his podcast Kill Tony, and he noted that Hinchliffe will continue bringing more comedians to fame on his Netflix comedy show specials.
However, with his track record of racial bias, Netflix is not only allowing a racist comedian to continue sharing his disparaging humor with the world, but also approving that type of behavior and racial viewpoint. The company sends a message that racist humor is not just acceptable, but profitable. Endorsing racism is unacceptable in any industry, including entertainment. Viewers that believe in diversity and accountability should consider canceling their Netflix subscriptions, letting Netflix know that normalizing racism comes with consequences.
