Puerto Rican celebrities are responding to Donald Trump and Tony Hinchcliffe after a rally at Madison Square Garden last weekend became a breeding ground for xenophobic and racist rhetoric against the territory.
Home to 3.2 million Americans, Puerto Rico was the target of inflammatory remarks by comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke at a rally ahead of former President Donald Trump. Hinchcliffe began Sunday evening with sexual jokes about Latinos, including saying, "They love making babies." He went on to say, "There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you 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."
The joke was met with immediate backlash from politicians like Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign. They said Hinchcliffe's speech was a “vile racist tirade against Latinos.”
Even Trump attempted to distance himself from the comments. Trump campaign senior advisor Daniella Alvarez said in a statement that the “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign."
Nonetheless, Trump feigned ignorance about Hinchcliffe's involvement at his rally. He told ABC News “I don’t know him, someone put him up there."
But outside the world of politics, high-profile Puerto Rican celebrities like Aubrey Plaza, Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, Ariana DeBose, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin blasted the racist comments from Hinchcliffe.
Plaza came out swinging in a speech at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards on Tuesday night.
“I just wanted to very quickly respond to the racist joke that was made at that Trump rally about Puerto Rico, where most of my family is from," she said. “Thankfully, my sweet abuelita wasn’t here to hear that disgusting remark, but if she was alive today, I think she would say, ‘Tony Hinchcliffe, go f**k yourself.’ And yes, the Wall Street Journal can quote me on that.”
Aubrey Plaza calls out comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's controversial joke about Puerto Rico.
— Variety (@Variety) October 30, 2024
"Thankfully, my sweet abuelita wasn’t here to hear that disgusting remark. But if she was alive today, I think she would say, ‘Tony Hinchcliffe, go f--- yourself.’" https://t.co/ucQopAR2ON pic.twitter.com/zTJIQdGQKe
Plaza wasn't the only one who had choice words for Hinchcliffe and Trump. The politically-engaged international reggaeton star Bad Bunny posted a video to his 45 million followers on Instagram captioned "garbage." The eight-minute-long video celebrated Puerto Rican culture, people and its vast history. “We are kings, champions, queens. We are legends,” the narrator said as the video showed a montage of figures like Roberto Clemente, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and "Hamilton" star Lin-Manuel Miranda. In the video's closing statements, the singer wrote, “We are the definition of heart and resistance. For those who forget who we are, don't worry, we will proudly remind them.”
Not only Bad Bunny did make a statement denouncing Hinchcliffe's comments, but the star also officially endorsed Harris for president. Alongside Puerto Rican pop stars Lopez and Martin, the musicians all separately reposted a video of Harris' plans for the island, signaling their endorsement of her.
“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 said. “He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
Even artists who have previously endorsed Trump are walking back their support of the former president after Hinchcliffe's comments. Reggaeton artist and vocal Trump proponent Nicky Jam said in an Instagram video that he believed Trump was the right candidate because “I believed it was what’s best for the economy in the United States, where a lot of Latinos live . . . a lot of immigrants that are suffering over the state of the economy,” he explained in Spanish.
However, after the Oct. 27 rally, things took an immediate turn for Jam. “I’m renouncing my support for Donald Trump and stepping away from any political conversation," he said. "Puerto Rico deserves respect."
Reportedly, Puerto Rican support for Trump in swing states like Pennsylvania is cooling after Hinchcliffe's comments. Politico reported the large, nearly half-a-million voting bloc in Pennsylvania is outraged about the racist and xenophobic rhetoric at Trump's rally. Nonpartisan Puerto Rican groups have drafted letters urging members of their community to strongly oppose Trump on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
