Palm Beach, Florida - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Tuesday that his weekend rally in New York's iconic Madison Square Garden, criticized for its speakers' crass and racist rhetoric, was a "love fest."

"Politicians that have been doing this for a long time – 30 and 40 years – said there's never been an event so beautiful," Trump said at a campaign event at his south Florida mansion.

"It was like a love fest, an absolute love fest, and it was my honor to be involved."

The blue-state rally sparked widespread controversy after far-right comedian Tony Hinchcliffe went on a racist rant about Latinos.

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"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 at one point.

The Trump campaign has since claimed that Hinchcliffe's comments do "not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign," but the former president's running mate, JD Vance, criticized the uproar on Monday and said, "Can we all just take a chill pill and take a joke from time to time?"

Trump's rival, Kamala Harris, seized on the scandal and reiterated her "long standing commitment to Puerto Rico" in a series of social media posts.