Several Puerto Rican celebrities have publicly expressed their support for Kamala Harris after a speaker at Donald Trump’s rally in New York on Sunday night called the Caribbean territory “a floating island of garbage.”
In a series of Instagram stories, Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny shared with his 45.6 million followers a campaign video published by Harris shortly after comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, one of the speakers who took the stage at Madison Square Garden for the MAGA rally, made the much-criticized comment on the island.
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and competent leader,” Harris says in the video. “He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back to back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
Bad Bunny, who was the most streamed artist on Spotify for three years in a row between 2020 and 2022, shared this part of Harris’ video four times on his social media platform.
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Puerto Rico, which is home to 3.2 million U.S. citizens, is still recovering from the devastating impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017, which caused billions in damage as well as a loss of power across the island.
In her campaign video, Harris promises to invest in the island’s future if elected president.
“Puerto Rico is home to some of the most talented, innovative, and ambitious people in our nation and Puerto Ricans deserve a president that sees and invests in that strength,” the Democratic candidate says, vowing to revitalize the island’s economy and modernize its energy grid.
The video has also been shared by Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor Ricky Martin, who has a total of over 18.6 million followers on Instagram. The singer, born in Puerto Rico’s San Juan, also shared a clip from Sunday’s rally in Madison Square Garden, writing in Spanish: “This is what they think about us. Vote for Kamala Harris.”
The video shows Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”
In another part of his speech not featured in the video shared by Martin, Hinchcliffe alleged that Latinos “love making babies,” a comment that reiterates a common racist trope.
The singer added that a post he had shared on Instagram that included Hinchcliffe’s clip had been “shadow banned” on the platform and was not “coming out in my feed.” At the time this article was published, the post, which Martin screenshotted, was not appearing in his Instagram feed.
A video of Hinchcliffe’s comment was posted on the social media platform by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, who sang the hit “Despacito.”
“Are you serious?,” he wrote, commenting on the video. “I understand comedy, I’m a big fan of it. I love roasts, trust me, I get it, BUT… this is far from comedy,” he added, calling Hinchcliffe’s comment racist.
“We are not ok with this constant hate. It’s been made abundantly clear that these people have no respect for us and yet they want our vote,” he added, inviting people to vote for Harris on November 5.
Puerto Rican singer and actor Jennifer Lopez also threw her support behind Harris on Sunday, sharing on her Instagram stories a post by the Harris campaign explaining her agenda for the island.
Altogether, the four stars have over 330 million followers on Instagram, with Lopez alone counting a total of 250 million followers on the platform. It’s unclear how the support these celebrities are throwing behind Harris could influence the presidential race nine days before election day, but Hinchcliffe’s comment appears to have triggered an immediate backlash against Trump.
The Republican candidate’s campaign has distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s comments, issuing a statement on Sunday that said the comedian’s joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
