Donald Trump’s hope to court Puerto Ricans in the 2024 presidential election may have backfired thanks to a crass joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Not long after, Bad Bunny, perhaps the most popular musician to ever hail from Puerto Rico, endorsed Trump’s rival, Kamala Harris.
During a set prior to Trump’s own remarks, Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” He also said Latinos “love making babies,” adding, “They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.”
Not long after Hinchcliffe’s comments began to go viral, Bad Bunny endorsed Harris by posting a video of her plan for Puerto Rico to his 45.6 million followers on Instagram. He also repeatedly shared a clip of Harris discussing Trump’s mishandling of relief efforts following Hurricanes Maria and Irma, which struck Puerto Rico in 2018 and left nearly 3,000 Americans dead on the island.
As detailed in an article in the Washington Post last month, the Harris campaign had been hoping for an endorsement from Bad Bunny, but it was never a guarantee. Though the musician had taken swipes at Trump in the past, he has largely taken an apolitical stance on issues not directly impacting Puerto Rico. A Democratic consultant told the Washington Post that given his popularity with Latin youth and massive social media footprint, his endorsement would be “even more important” than Taylor Swift’s.
Although Puerto Rico itself does not have electoral college votes in presidential elections, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican natives reside in key swing states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Other Latin stars also responded to Hinchcliffe’s comments, including Ricky Martin ad Jennifer Lopez. Martin shared video of Hinchcliffe’s joke to his Instagram with the caption, “This is what they think of us.”
At Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, podcast host and comedian Kill Tony referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” during his set.
Notably, four percent of Pennsylvanians are Puerto Rican.
Around 500,000 people. pic.twitter.com/txE3UD0QVE
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 27, 2024
Trump rally speaker: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.”
pic.twitter.com/iZoheUraCW— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 27, 2024
👀 Bad Bunny shares Vice President Harris’ plan for Puerto Rico to his 45M followers on IG
As Trump’s rally speaker calls PR “a floating island of garbage” pic.twitter.com/4CeAMTbTKB
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) October 27, 2024