Fact Check: Were trash cans in NYC plastered with pics of MAGA supporters after Biden's 'garbage' remark?

Fact Check: Were trash cans in NYC plastered with pics of MAGA supporters after Biden's 'garbage' remark?
President Joe Biden criticized MAGA supporters, calling them 'garbage' after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made offensive comments about Puerto Rico (@stillgray/X)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: President Joe Biden recently slammed MAGA supporters and labeled them 'garbage' after offensive comments about Puerto Rico by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during a rally for the GOP nominee at Madison Square Garden.

After his remarks, a viral social media post showed that New York propagandists seized on the president's words and plastered garbage cans with pictures of MAGA supporters for an ad to encourage locals to keep the streets clean. But is there any truth to it? Let's find out below.

Claim: Trash cans in NYC plastered with pics of MAGA supporters after Biden's 'garbage' remark

An X user named Ian Miles Cheong posted a photo on Wednesday, October 30, and captioned it, "This is New York City. Someone installed these posters. Disgusting."



 

The photo had two posters on trash cans, depicting MAGA supporters obscured with a red slash, with the slogan 'Keep NYC Trash Free', per Newsweek.

Partly false: Trash cans in NYC plastered with pics of MAGA supporters were seen in October 2018

The trash cans in NYC plastered with pics of MAGA supporters were seen in New York in October 2018 and not after Biden's 'garbage' remarks. They were attributed to street artist Winston Tseng.

Tseng posted photos of the bins on his Instagram page and initially denied he was behind them. The street artist told NYC news station PIX 11, "For the record, I didn't create or put up these posters. But if I did, I wouldn't want people to take them so seriously since they're meant to reflect certain parts of our society and not meant to generalize beyond those."


 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Winston Tseng (@winstontseng)


 

Tseng added, "I'd just want the intended audience of my fellow 'classist elitist New Yorkers' to hopefully be entertained by the 'unhelpful, tone-deaf message' as they go about their day in this trash-filled liberal bubble."

Moreover, X user Ian Miles Cheong had repeatedly shared misleading and false information on social media, per the outlet.

Proof: Street Artist Tseng said they were his posters

Winston Tseng later told the blog Brooklyn Street Art that they were his posters. The photos, that were shared this week, were posted on Tseng's website in 2018.


 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Winston Tseng (@winstontseng)


 

In a statement to PIX 11 in 2018, the New York City Department of Sanitation stated that it had not made the posters and did not "condone unlawful defacement of City litter baskets or public property."

Joe Biden labels Donald Trump supporters ‘garbage’

During a call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino, President Biden responded to Hinchcliffe's comments, in which the comedian described Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage", per the Daily Mail.

Biden said, "Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m from in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people."

(Getty Images)
Joe Biden labeled MAGA supporters 'garbage' after comedian's remarks on Puerto Rico (Getty Images)

The president added, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been."

However, he then took to social media to clarify what he said and wrote, "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."



 

He added, "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."

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