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Puerto Ricans, including Grammy-winning artists Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, widely condemned Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump after a comedian performing at his closing campaign rally in Madison Square Garden derided the island as a “floating island of garbage.”
The backlash comes as Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris are locked in a razor-thin race – and are counting on Latino voters to help get them to the White House.
Puerto Rican voters living in the United States make up the second largest Latino group in the country, including in key battleground states like Pennsylvania.
Trump, who is seeing increased support among Latino men, touted splashy endorsements from Puerto Rican artists like Anuel AA and Nicky Jam that boast major followings from young Latino voters. But comments from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony, have caused widespread and bipartisan backlash to Trump’s presidential campaign.
“I couldn’t believe what I heard from that Trump rally. Seeing that type of hatred on full display not only angered me, but deepened my resolve to do everything I can to make sure that he never sits in the Oval Office again,” said Mayor Matt Tuerk of Allentown, Pennsylvania. More than half of Allentown’s residents are Latino, with many of Puerto Rican descent. Tuerk, a Democrat who is of Cuban descent, is the city’s first Latino mayor.
GOP Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, who was born in Puerto Rico, also swiftly condemned Hinchcliffe’s remarks.
“Disgusted by @TonyHinchcliffe’s racist comment calling Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,” she wrote on X. “This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values.”
Hinchcliffe spoke at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden several hours before the former president, where he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the ocean right now” and made jokes about Latinos.
In the face of a growing uproar, senior Trump advisor Danielle Alvarez on Sunday night issued a statement addressing Hinchcliffe’s bit. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” she said.
More than two-thirds of Puerto Ricans live in the United States — roughly 5.8 million, according to Pew Research Center. An additional 3.3 million Puerto Ricans live on the island, which is a U.S. territory, but residents on the island cannot vote for president.
Shortly after Hinchcliffe’s comments went viral, Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican global superstar, shared a video of Harris criticizing Trump’s actions against Puerto Rico when he was president. On his Instagram story, Bad Bunny shared a post from Harris’ Instagram account that outlines her agenda for the island.
The Reggaetonero then shared a clip of her post several times with the line: “I will never forget what Donald Trump did – and what he did not do – when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader. He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back to back devastating hurricanes, and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
His final post on his Instagram story with the clip was cut to say: “I will never forget what Donald Trump did.” Bad Bunny has 45.6 million followers on Instagram.
A representative for Bad Bunny said the artist is supporting Harris. However, the representative underscored that Bad Bunny’s focus is on Puerto Rico. Bad Bunny has often spoken out about local politics in Puerto Rico, most recently calling on residents to vote against the New Progressive Party, which has a lead in the November gubernatorial election.
Both Harris and Trump are vying for Latino voters, who will be critical in deciding the winner in the presidential election.
With less than 10 days until the Nov. 5 election, Harris earlier on Sunday unveiled an “opportunity economy” agenda for Puerto Rico that would create a task force to focus on creating economic opportunities on the island and improving the electrical grid to help close the gap on Latino voters.
“I really believe that we are all a part of a new generation of leadership for our country that is optimistic and ambitious, and if may I say for myself, quite impatient about knowing that we can get things done,” she said at Freddy and Tony’s Restaurant in a Puerto Rican neighborhood of Philadelphia.
During Trump’s presidency, Puerto Rico was devastated by two back-to-back hurricanes in 2017 that killed more than 3,000 people and displaced thousands.
Trump at the time was criticized for his response to the storms after he downplayed the damage they caused and an image went viral of him throwing rolls of paper towels to residents on the island.
Some people of Puerto Rican descent criticized Trump for giving Hinchcliffe a platform at his rally.
Lexie Robinson, 49, who is Puerto Rican and has lived in Brooklyn for 16 years, said she believes that the former president “is a racist, dangerous, self righteous deviant.”
“It’s vile that Puerto Rico was referred to as floating island of garbage,” she said. “They are literally in NYC, a city that is part of our great migration, a city we have given so much culture to, so much love, music, food, community – so much of ourselves to.”
Robinson is voting for Harris in this election, even though she does not agree with the Democratic vice president’s support of aid to Israel for their war in Gaza.
After the widespread backlash, including from Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Hinchcliffe said he loves Puerto Rico and has vacationed there. And that throughout his set, the comedian “made fun of everyone.”
“These people have no sense of humor,” he wrote.
