One of the biggest stars in the world publicly backed Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House on Sunday, the same day a comedian tapped to speak at a rally headlined by Donald Trump insulted the island he hails from.
Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar, shared several messages from Harris to his more than 45 million Instagram followers Sunday. The endorsement, confirmed by a source to The Washington Post, will likely prove a boon to Harris’ campaign as it works to shore up its support with Hispanic voters, especially Puerto Ricans, in the final days of the 2024 election.
The move also came on the same day comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a series of remarks disparaging remarks against Latinos, Puerto Ricans, and Black people at a rally hosted by Donald Trump at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
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The comedian—of the comedy podcast Kill Tony—opened Trump‘s rally by calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” among a series of other racist comments.
The furore was almost immediate.
Another Puerto Rican star, the singer Ricky Martin, shared a clip of Hinchcliffe with the caption, “this is what they think of us,” in Spanish.
Jennifer Lopez, while not commenting on Hinchcliffe, shared the same message from Harris; combining the three stars’ reach to more than 314 million followers.
Another Puerto Rican star, Luis Fonsi, of “Despacito” fame, wrote, “una falta de respeto,” on Instagram, translated as “a lack of respect.” He added, before reposting the same Harris message shared by Bad Bunny, “Are you serious?”
Even the Trump campaign tried to deflect from its association with Hinchcliffe, telling The Post, “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the comments forced the Harris campaign to act, just hours after a stop at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia where she announced a new agenda aimed at upgrading critical infrastructure and the economy in the Caribbean island.
The campaign criticized Trump after his own “closing message to Puerto Ricans,” adding a statement that “this should come as no surprise.”
Meanwhile, Hinchcliffe and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is Puerto Rican herself, battled in a war of words on X after Cortez appeared in a live-streamed event with her party’s vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and criticized the jokes.
“These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim…might be time to change your tampon," Hinchcliffe wrote.
Cortez shot back: “You‘re opening for Trump by calling Puerto Rico a floating pile of garbage. 4,000+ Puerto Ricans died under him. This isn‘t the comedy store. You’re using your set to boost neo-Nazis like MTG & stripping women’s rights to the Stone Age. Your ’sense of humor’ doesn’t change that.”
Even some Republicans denounced Hinchcliffe’s “jokes,” including the chairman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico, Ángel Cintrón, who called the comments “unfortunate, ignorant and entirely reprehensible” in a statement posted to social media.
