On Tuesday night, Trump is campaigning in the heavily Latino town of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Some members of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the US have expressed outrage at Tony Hinchliffe’s routine. A number of prominent Puerto Ricans – including Trump allies – have urged the Republican candidate to publicly disavow the joke.
Among them was Angel Cintron, president of Puerto Rico’s Republican Party, who was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying it was “disgraceful, ignorant and totally reprehensible”.
In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Trump distanced himself from Hinchcliffe.
“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” he said.
Speaking at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump insisted the rally was an “absolute lovefest”.
“The love in that room. It was breathtaking,” he added.
Trump’s allies have hit back at Democrats, accusing actor George Lopez of making an insensitive joke about Mexicans as he spoke at a Kamala Harris rally in Arizona over the weekend.
