When the vultures came for comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, they thought there was a lot of meat on the bone.
Circling from above, media watchdogs and political operatives thought they had him, and Trump, dead to rights.
‘We’ll change the narrative.’
But they forgot something.
It was October 27, 2024, when Hinchcliffe appeared at Donald Trump’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden. Jokes about Puerto Rico being a floating pile of garbage were deemed racist and insulting.
For weeks, the joke police wanted voters to believe that Hinchcliffe is a monster whose ethos is a direct descendent to Trump and his then-possibly incoming administration.
Fast-forward two years and Hinchcliffe was in the crosshairs again for his roast jokes, this time at a literal roast. Jokes about George Floyd during the roast of Kevin Hart were deemed as “not even a joke” by Wanda Sykes, while Floyd’s foundation labeled Hinchcliffe a “racist comedian” in a series of insulting statements.
There’s a problem with these accusations though. There was a lot of footage they forgot to erase.
The smokeout
Despite constant backlash in the media, Hinchcliffe has always refused to back down, punch after punch, year after year. Perhaps the reason is because Hinchcliffe knows he has the tapes to back himself up.
December 10, 2016, 10:00 p.m.: The “Snoop Dogg Smokeout” airs, ironically, a month before Trump takes office for the first time.
Snoop Dogg, Mike Epps, Terry Crews, LL Cool J, and … Tony Hinchcliffe.
In front of what Snoop described as an “all-black crowd,” Tony did what Tony does.
“Hello everybody, you’re all under arrest,” Hinchcliffe began.
Soon, the then-32-year-old told comedian Luenell she looks like she needed “two seats on the Underground Railroad.”
This was followed by Hinchcliffe saying comedian Michael Blackson had his makeup done with a “charcoal briquette” and that Snoop’s estranged kids would love to smoke weed with him if they ever met.
No one was offended; in fact, other comedians were literally falling out of their chairs as audience members waved towels and screamed.
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Snoop was the most impressed. Within the year, he had Hinchcliffe on his own podcast to reveal what today would be highly controversial news: The allegedly racist comedian was writing a movie for one of the most iconic rappers of all time.
Total recall
In more forgotten footage, Snoop spoke more about his friendship with the Ohio comedian years later on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“He’s the s**t,” Snoop said about Hinchcliffe.
Airing just four months before the MSG debacle, host Joe Rogan said he was ready to go all-out in support of Hinchcliffe’s career. Snoop and Rogan went back and forth praising Tony, declaring him to be one of the best roast comedians of all time.
Snoop then directly addressed Hinchcliffe’s racial comedy at his own roast, saying, “I seen him at an all-black [show] with an all-black crowd steal the f**king show.”
Rogan said he had “all his chips in” on Hinchcliffe as the two contemplated how to make him a star. Spitballing ideas, the duo came up with show ideas for Hinchcliffe, with Snoop himself saying that a roast battle format mixed with musical performances could force a monumental shift in pop culture.
“It would make the sensitive people, to comedy, be nonsensitive because now you have two comedians talking s**t about each other.”
The audience couldn’t possibly be sensitive to jokes after seeing that, Snoop asserted.
“We’ll change the narrative,” Snoop said. “That’s my guy.”
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WWE/Getty Images
The media illusion isn’t strong enough to convince most audience members or comedians that Tony is racist. That includes Kevin Hart, who was the butt of many of the allegedly harmful jokes months ago.
Hart has explained that he was never actually offended by the roast jokes, saying he is always going to “appreciate humor,” even when the humor is about him being “on a slave ship in a bottle.”
Even through-and-through Democrat supporter Jon Stewart defended Hinchcliffe through the ordeal.
It’s not likely that anyone short of Chelsea Handler will think of Hinchcliffe as a “racist comedian,” when in proximity of him, it’s actually difficult to do so.
Hinchcliffe’s wildly popular “Kill Tony” show features an all-Mexican horn section, a Mexican drummer, a blind black guitarist, and a black keyboardist. A lot of the show’s most popular regulars are definitively not white, so are some of his closest comedian friends.
If these associations still aren’t enough to convince progressives, Hinchcliffe’s answer is simple:
“I apologize to absolutely nobody. Not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the whites, not to the blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set.”
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Donald trump, George floyd, Joe rogan, Kevin hart, Roast, Snoop dogg, Stand-up comedy, Tony hinchcliffe, Entertainment
