MTV icon Downtown Julie Brown unexpectedly featured in a rescue mission when the cruise ship she was performing on noticed a boat in distress in Trump’s recently-renamed Gulf of America, otherwise known as the Gulf of Mexico.
Brown, 61, was performing on Wednesday with vacation company Vacaya aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas on a seven-night Caribbean sailing adventure from New Orleans when the captain spotted a boat in distress, she relayed in a video taken at the time of the rescue.
The former Club MTV host said their ship was on the way to Mexico from Cuba when the captain decided to make a stop.
“The captain of the ship saw—while we were hauling so fast the other way—thought he saw a boat in distress,” Brown said. “So we looped around. Big loop. Took us about 20 minutes, probably, to loop back around, and it was indeed a boat in distress.”
Vacaya CEO Randle Roper said in a news release that 11 refugees “adrift in the Gulf of Mexico” were brought aboard the cruise ship and provided with food, water, and medical care. They were also swabbed for diseases.
“As they were coming towards the boat, I waved to them, and they all waved back to me,” Brown said. “So they’re obviously in good spirits as well.”
“It’s sad that some people have to put themselves through such trauma in hopes of finding a better life, but that’s where we are today,” Roper said. “I’m so proud of our LGBT+ guests rallying to collect clothes for these fellow humans in need.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Coast Guard for further information on the rescue.
President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on his first day back in office, stoking controversy over what to call the international waterway.
