BY: JAEQWON SUAREZ / MANAGING EDITOR
On Oct. 27 2024, Donald Trump held a rally where many guest speakers came out to show their support and convince the crowd that Trump is the president the people of the United States need. One section of that night’s rally received significant backlash from many Latin Americans, especially Puerto Ricans, when a comedian came out and began to state crude things about the island.
The comedian in question is Tony Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comedian who not only talked about Puerto Ricans, but Jews, Blacks, and Latin people in general.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe stated, just nine days before the election date.
Kamala Harris’ campaign was quick to rebut the claims about Puerto Rico as well as some other comments about the candidate herself, such as being called the “antichrist” and “the devil”, and eluding to a common stereotype for Black people about her intelligence, stating she is lazy and they can’t let her “and her pimp handlers will destroy our country,” as stated by businessman Grant Cardone.
Before that Trump rally on Sunday, she had released a video criticizing how Trump, who was president at the time, handled caring for the people of Puerto Rico after having experienced hurricanes back-to-back.
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” Harris stated, adding that he only offered “paper towels and insults.”
Since that day of the Trump Rally, many stars and idols from Puerto Rico have spoken out against Hinchcliffe's comments, such as Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin. Reggaeton artist Nicky Jam has also rescinded his support for Trump after the comments, stating, "I never thought in my life that a month later a comedian would come along and criticize my country, speak poorly of my country, therefore I renounce any support for Donald Trump."
Bad Bunny has inserted himself into national politics by endorsing Harris with a video he posted on Instagram. The Instagram post is an eight-minute-long video from his sold-out 2021 concert in San Juan describing his love for his island in Spanish. The video ends with a statement he makes, , “We are the definition of heart and resistance…For those who forget who we are, don't worry, we will proudly remind them.”
Jennifer Lopez took to the stage giving a speech to the people of Nevada as well as airing the inspirational speech on television via CNN. She starts off by saying that Trump has shown how he really feels about us, referring to Puerto Ricans.
“It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day. It was every Latino in this country, it was humanity and anyone of any decent character,” she continued to state. She also noted that her parents were born in Puerto Rico before they moved to New York, where Lopez was born.
“I am an actor and an entertainer and I like Hollywood endings. I like when the good guy, or in this case the good girl, wins. And with an understanding of our past and a faith in our future, I will be casting my ballot for Kamala Harris for president of the United States proudly,” she stated. Lopez concluded her speech with the powerful line, “You can’t even spell American without Rican.”
Both parties have been appealing to the Latin communities in swing states to gain an advantage in this election. Puerto Ricans’ vote count is now just as important as ever since people who stay on the island unfortunately can not vote for the U.S. president as they are only statutory citizens.
Javier Llano, a Puerto Rican political consultant based in Washington D.C., stated, “The young and the old, their heart is in Puerto Rico — even the ones who were born here in Pennsylvania, in New York, in Nevada, in Georgia, where you have a Puerto Rican population who can decide an election.”
A statement released by a senior adviser for Trump’s campaign Danielle Alvarez stated “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” however the damage has already been done, encouraging many who were undecided to choose Harris over Trump.
As stated by the president of Voto Latino María Teresa Kumar, “He talked about Latinos, he talked about Puerto Ricans, he talked about African Americans, he talked about women. The only group that was safe was literally white men — cis white males, to be very specific… The reason that getting a Bad Bunny — the reason that getting a Ricky Martin and getting a Jennifer Lopez to endorse, is that it allows them to use their information on their feeds to talk to low-propensity information voters”
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