Late-night hosts ignore, downplay Biden's 'garbage' insult of Trump supporters after panning Puerto Rico joke

The liberal late-night hosts either downplayed or completely avoided President Biden's controversial "garbage" remark about Trump supporters after panning the controversial Puerto Rico joke that made news from former President Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. 

On Monday, "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert hyped the "massive repercussions" of the joke made by insult comedian Tony Hinchliffe referring to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage," pointing to the "470,000" Puerto Rican voters living in Pennsylvania. 

"And you're not going to win over half a million people by insulting their homeland," Colbert exclaimed. 

On Tuesday night, Colbert boasted about the fallout from the joke by reading several negative headlines affecting the Trump campaign. 

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"Here's a little pro-tip: when running for president, try not to October surprise yourself," Colbert quipped. "It's rare to tell a joke so bad it alters the course of human history." 

Colbert went on to knock Trump for not taking any responsibility for Hinchcliffe's joke.

However, the subject of "garbage" was ignored in Colbert's monologue on Wednesday, which instead drew focus to Vice President Kamala Harris' crowd size at her Ellipse rally, touting how it outnumbered Trump's audience when he gave his Jan. 6 speech at the same location. 

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel blasted the Madison Square Garden rally as "mean," "hateful" and "racist," telling his audience it "pissed off Puerto Ricans to the point that Bad Bunny had to get involved."

"Trump made such a mess with Puerto Ricans, they're now throwing paper towels at him," Kimmel joked Monday night. 

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But on Wednesday night, instead of taking aim at Biden, he ridiculed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who he said "frantically" informed Trump about Biden's "garbage" comment at Tuesday's rally in Allentown, Penn. 

"Oh my stars! What kind of language is that to use?!" Kimmel dramatically reacted after playing the clip of Rubio and referencing the "Despicable Me" movie series. "He’s like an excited little minion bringing big news to Gru."

The "Jimmy Kimmel Live" host went on to say he didn't blame the Trump campaign for "jump[ing] all over this garbage thing," conceding it was "not a smart thing to say." 

"Joe Biden should drop out of this race immediately," Kimmel joked before moving on to mock Trump's garbage truck campaign stunt.

Notably, both Colbert and Kimmel emceed mega fundraisers for Biden before he exited the 2024 race. 

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Meanwhile, "Late Night" host Seth Meyers, after pummeling Trump on Monday over the Puerto Rico blunder, took a brief swipe at Biden Wednesday night but spent more time panning Trump's attempts to distance himself from the joke.

"While denouncing racist remarks at former President Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, President Biden appeared to refer to Trump supporters as 'garbage.' Now, obviously, what he meant to say was nothing," Meyers said as he jokingly got tense. "Why are you saying anything?! Did you forget that you're so bad at saying things, we had to go get somebody else?!" 

Meyers also joked about the transcript of Biden's comments released by the White House, saying "we all have to decipher it like we're reading backwards hieroglyphics through a jeweler's loupe." 

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Biden attempted to clarify his comments, which were made on a virtual Harris campaign call with Voto Latino.

"Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it," Biden wrote on X. "His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don't reflect who we are as a nation."

Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.