John Jefferson
Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Sunday, shortly after a comedian at former President Trump’s sold-out Madison Square Garden rally joked that Puerto Rico equated to a “floating island of garbage,” and made other unsavory jokes about Latinos.
Bad Bunny, whose official name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, shared a video backing Harris with his 45 million Instagram followers on Sunday shortly after Tony Hinchcliffe made the crude jokes about Puerto Rico and Latinos. A representative of the artist confirmed to the Associated Press that he is supporting Harris.
Harris, who visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philadelphia to court Hispanic and Latino voters in the pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania earlier Sunday, said in the video shared by Bad Bunny that “there’s so much at stake in this election for Puerto Rican voters and for Puerto Rico.”
In showing support, Bad Bunny shared several times another part of the clip Harris made on Puerto Rico, saying, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader.”
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Bad Bunny also shared a part of the clip showing Harris saying Trump “abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
The remarks at the Trump rally by Hinchcliffe were promptly disavowed by the Trump campaign, with campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez issuing a statement afterward that “the joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
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Bad Bunny, a 30-year-old Puerto Rican recording artist, who has popular songs such as “Dakiti” and “Titi Me Preguntó,” has won three Grammy Awards. He was the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and was only surpassed by Taylor Swift in 2023. He was named Artist of the Year by Apple Music in 2022.
The Puerto Rican vote is sizable in Pennsylvania, which is arguably the hardest fought of the swing states in the 2024 election. Other Puerto Rican singers such as Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony had already expressed support for Harris. Trump has also attracted support from other popular stars from the island such as Anuel AA and Nicky Jam.
Bad Bunny has been vocal about criticizing Puerto Rico’s electric system, which was razed by Hurricane Maria. In a 2022 music video for his song “El Apagon,” the artist called out the company Luma Energy, which handles transmission and distribution, for the constant power outages that plague the island.
One of his most recent songs, “Una Velita,” is also a protest against the government response following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017.
In 2020, Bad Bunny allowed the Biden campaign to use one of his hits, “Pero Ya No,” in a TV ad.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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