Puerto Rican stars support Kamala Harris amid Trump rally controversy

• A comedian said at a Trump rally on Sunday that Puerto Rico is “a floating island of trash.”
• Puerto Rican celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, responded by expressing their support for Kamala Harris.
• The incident reflects the fallout from Trump spreading a conspiracy theory about Haitian migrants.

Puerto Rican celebrities including Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin spoke out in support of Kamala Harris after the island became the focal point of a Donald Trump rally.

Tony Hinchcliffe, a speaker at Trump's Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, said: “I don't know if you know this, but right now there's literally a floating island of trash in the middle of the ocean. I think it's called Puerto Rico.

The comment angered Puerto Rican celebrities.

Luis Fonsi, the singer behind the 2017 hit “Despacito,” wrote on his Instagram Story: “It's okay to have different views and I respect those who think differently than me… but taking this RACIST path is not the right thing.”

He said: “We do not agree with this constant hatred. It’s abundantly clear that these people have no respect for us and yet they want our vote.”

Martin shared the video accompanying his story with the caption in Spanish: “This is what they think about us.”

On their Instagram Stories, Fonsi, Lopez and Martin shared a video of Harris outlining her plan to support Puerto Rico if elected and urged her followers to vote for the Democratic candidate. Bad Bunny, a rapper and singer, re-shared the same video of his story four times in a row without any subtitles.

None of these celebrities have previously been major Republican allies. Nevertheless, high-profile interventions can often encourage apathetic voters to vote.

CBS News reported in September that more than 400,000 users visited the voter registration website vote.gov the day after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris on Instagram.

Harris' Instagram account shared the clip on Sunday. In the video, she accused Trump of “blocking” aid after Puerto Rico was hit by two hurricanes in two weeks in 2017, causing $90 billion in damage, causing a 180-day power outage and an estimated 2,975 people were killed.

Trump said in 2018 that his administration's response to the hurricanes was “an incredible, unsung success,” but it was met with much criticism at the time.

In 2021, a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General found that the $20 billion in aid the department planned to send to Puerto Rico was delayed due to interagency reviews under the Trump administration. Investigators did not say why these checks were carried out.

It's not the first time Trump and his allies have angered celebrities from a Caribbean community.

Last month, high-profile Haitians including Wyclef Jean, Rep. Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian American in Congress, and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills personality Garcelle Beauvais spoke out after Trump made the false claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, they lived killing and eating pets.