Hillary Clinton quips about losing 2016 election at Tony Awards — but joke falls flat

Hillary Clinton tried to make light of her ill-fated 2016 presidential campaign during a surprise appearance at the Tony Awards in New York City Sunday, only for the quip to be met with deafening silence from the A-list audience.

The former Secretary of State, 76, received a standing ovation when she walked onto the stage at Lincoln Center to introduce a performance from “Suffs,” the Broadway musical that she co-produced about women’s suffrage movement, but the mood in the audience shifted when she cracked a joke about her loss to former President Donald Trump.

“I have stood on a lot of stages, but this is very special,” the former First Lady said. “I know a little bit about how hard it is to make change.”

Hillary Clinton cracked a joke about her ill-fated campaign 2016 election during Sunday’s Tony Awards. REUTERS

While some A-listers laughed at the joke, the hall was largely silent in response.

“I’m extremely proud of this original American musical by Shaina Taub — now a two-time Tony winner,” she continued.

“And of course, it is about some American originals: the suffragists who fought so valiantly for so long to give women in our country the right to vote.”

Clinton was welcomed onstage with a standing ovation from an A-list audience. CBS

Clinton, who won an Emmy Award in 2023 and a Grammy Award in 1997, then went on to urge people to vote when President Joe Biden goes head-to-head with Trump once more in November.

“It’s almost impossible to think about what a challenge that was, but now it’s an election year, and we need to be reminded about how important it is to vote, so please welcome the company of Suffs,” she said.

The former First Lady lost the 2016 presidential election to former President Donald Trump. AFP/Getty Images

This was Clinton’s first Tony nomination.

Clinton recently pinned her 2016 presidential loss on her fellow women who abandoned her for not being “perfect.”

In the forthcoming book “The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America,” she claimed that she lost female voters after an investigation was launched into her private email server.

Clinton’s appearance at Sunday’s awards came just days after she sparked major backlash with her social media post commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Clinton served as a producer on the musical “Suffs” — a Broadway show about the movement to give women the right to vote. Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions

“Eighty years ago today, thousands of brave Americans fought to protect democracy on the shores of Normandy. This November, all we have to do is vote,” the former secretary of state posted to her X account.

Conservatives criticized Clinton, a Democrat who ran against Trump for president in 2016, for a post they considered disrespectful to America’s heroes.