Bad Bunny has responded to the racist attacks Puerto Rico received at a recent Donald Trump rally, sharing an 8-minute video which pays tribute to his home territory.
In case you missed the dumpster fire rally (I envy you), Trump and his cronies took to the stage at Madison Square Garden in New York City earlier this week to deliver remarks that ranged from bizarre to downright hateful. While the whole event was marked by racism, fear-mongering and neo-Nazism, it was one speaker in particular who lit a firestorm of controversy.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe has been on the receiving end of an avalanche of backlash following his remarks at the rally. In between tired stereotypes about African Americans, Jewish people and Palestinians, the frequent Joe Rogan podcast guest copped the most heat for a ‘joke’ which labelled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Yep, it was that direct, and the reaction was understandably swift and widespread.
Among the notable figures to respond to Hinchliffe’s joke — which ranged from politicians to Trump campaign spokespeople — it was Bad Bunny whose reaction felt the most poignant. Almost immediately after Hinchcliffe’s comments were doing the rounds online, the singer-songwriter endorsed Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris, and shared a campaign video in which the Democratic candidate outlines her plans for a Puerto Rican “opportunity economy.”
But Bad Bunny’s reaction to the joke about Puerto Rico didn’t stop there. Taking to Instagram on October 29, the “MONACO” singer shared a lengthy video with the caption “garbage,” a clear reference to Hinchcliffe’s comment. The video, as explained in the opening text, was originally used as the introduction to Bad Bunny’s “P FKN R” show back in 2021, but it marks the first time he has shared it beyond the context of a concert.
Spanning eight minutes, the clip features a whole host of Puerto Rican icons from the worlds of politics, science, sport, and entertainment. “We’re kings and queens and champions,” a voiceover in the video says, “we’re legends.” The video also features dazzling shots highlighting the natural and cultural beauty of Puerto Rico, and proved poignant enough to prompt impassioned responses from viewers.
“As a Latino, I’m livid,” one Instagram user wrote, “this is not America, this is vile hate.” Bad Bunny was one of multiple celebrities with links to Puerto Rico to react to Hinchcliffe’s comments, with fellow musicians Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin also denouncing the Trump rally and throwing their support behind Harris as a result.
For his part, Star Trek star George Takai, a noted Trump critic, urged voters to remember that, in response to the jokes, they will “hear everything but an apology from Trump and Vance about… the MAGA hate fest.” I guess the term hate fest makes sense, when its speakers referred to a key voting demographic as “garbage,” mocked Harris’ biracial heritage, and described her as the “devil” and the “anti-Christ.”
That all tracks for a candidate whose supporters were caught altering a Trump campaign sign to feature a swastika. Maybe we’re all overreacting — as Hinchcliffe argued in an X post royally refuted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — or maybe it’s simply a normal reaction for anyone who, I dunno, thinks racism and fascism aren’t all that chic?
