Madison Square Garden is aware that Sunday’s campaign rally for Donald Trump has caused quite the controversy — but the venue insists it is not their job to censor anyone who takes their stage.
“As a business we are neutral in political matters. We rent to either side. We don’t censor artists, performers or speakers,” a rep for MSG told Variety on Monday.
The statement comes after many Americans have called out comedian and speaker Tony Hinchcliffe for his racist, anti-Puerto Rico comments at the New York event prior to Trump taking the arena stage.
“There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said. The “joke” elicited immediate pushback from celebrities like Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, who have subsequently endorsed Kamala Harris.
The Puerto Rican artists shared a campaign video of the vice president expressing her support for Latinos and the people of Puerto Rico, specifically. Martin also shared the original video of Hinchcliffe’s racist joke with the caption, “This is what they think of us.”
Elsewhere in his speech, Hinchcliffe said, “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.”
After the rally, the Trump campaign attempted to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s speech by saying the joke about Puerto Rico “does not reflect the views of President Trump and the campaign.”
Representatives from MSG reiterated their nonpartisan stance by acknowledging that former Democratic candidate President Joe Biden hosted a fundraiser at the Radio City Music Hall, which is also owned and operated by MSG. Meanwhile, Trump has a longtime relationship with the owners of MSG. The Republican nominee even shouted out James L. Dolan, whose family owns the iconic arena, several times at the Sunday rally. The two are close friends, so much so that Dolan held his wedding at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Elsewhere, although Trump expressed sympathy for New York Mayor Eric Adams, who has been accused of misconduct within his administration, the mayor did commiserate with the former president following Sunday’s rally.
“The hateful words that were used by some at today’s rally at Madison Square Garden were completely unacceptable. No matter who says it, hate is hate and there is no place for it in our city. As Americans, we always should stand up against racism, antisemitism and misogyny,” Adams said in a post on X. “Yesterday, ahead of today’s rally, I talked about how we all need to turn down the temperature that fuels hate and violence. I am once again renewing those calls.”
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