Last month at Madison Square Garden a stand-up comedians remarks about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage“ created an un-expected chain reaction (coincidentally happening exactly 50 years after the biggest Puerto Rican independence gathering at same venue)
The timing couldnt be more crucial with about 900‚000 Puerto Rican-descent voters living in key election states:
- Pennsylvania
- North Carolina
- Georgia
- Wisconsin
- Michigan
- Arizona
- Nevada
This incident triggered strong reactions from Latin-American stars. Jennifer Lopez‚ Ricky Martin‚ and Rosie Perez showed their backing for Kamala Harris; most notably Bad Bunny — who previously stayed neutral — joined the group
Back on the island‚ a new political alliance between independence supporters and left-wing groups is gaining momentum: challenging the long-standing two-party system. Bad Bunny has been active in this movement putting up signs against what he calls corrupt leadership
I endorsed him because I thought he was best for the economy... Never did I think a comedian would speak badly of my country
The effects spread beyond Puerto Rico as nearly half-million Puerto Rican residents in Pennsylvania alone showed strong dis-approval of these comments. The situation became more complex when considering that island-based Puerto Ricans — while being U.S citizens — cant vote in federal elections‚ but their mainland relatives who can vote stay closely connected to island issues
This whole situation might affect the campaigns efforts to attract Latin-American voters whoʼve been mainly focused on economic matters. The comedians additional comments about Latinos “loving to make babies“ didnt help either‚ possibly undermining previous progress with this voter group