Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, among others, have jointly shown their support for Kamala Harris online, after a racist joke about Puerto Rico at a Donald Trump rally.
It all happened after comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe made a racist comment during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York: “There is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said. Hinchcliffe was one of 30 people who aimed to energize the public before Trump’s departure.
Hinchcliffe, to make matters worse, also made racist and sexist jokes about the Latino, black and Jewish community in the United States. According to reports from the event, the jokes did not sit well with the public and were received by timid applause. Completely unusually for a Trump campaign, a party adviser said in a later statement that “this joke does not reflect the vision of President Trump or the campaign.”
The comment provoked an immediate response from the community of Puerto Rican artists. Bad Bunny, with more than 45 million followers on Instagram, reposted a video of Kamala Harris in which he reminded the public of what Trump “did and did not do when Puerto Rico needed a competent and empathetic leader,” referring to what happened with the Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
After this, Ricky Martin also uploaded the video to his Stories, as did Jennifer Lopez, with her more than 250 million followers. Between the three artists, they have around 315 million followers on Instagram, that is, 15 million people less than the total population of the United States. However, they were not the only Puerto Rican artists to join the cause.
Residente and Luis Fonsi also published videos of what happened. The ‘Despacito’ singer declared that it was a “lack of respect”: “Is this serious??” he wrote. On the other hand, the founder of Calle 13 sent a message to his compatriots: “To my Puerto Rican brothers, please do not endorse these people.”
Trump rally speaker: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico” pic.twitter.com/pbw88p5PhI
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 27, 2024
Bad Bunny reshares Kamala Harris video on Instagram outlining her policy to uplift Puerto Ricans. pic.twitter.com/9iwtPAQlP4
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 27, 2024
Vice President Harris: I announced my plan for Puerto Rico, and I’m proud to have the support of folks like Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez. People are exhausted with Trump and that nonsense we saw last night at Madison Square Garden pic.twitter.com/XXlBnxPKdy
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 28, 2024