Reggaeton superstar Nicky Jam was deeply offended by comedian Tony Hinchliffe, who compared Puerto Rico to floating garbage. That led Nicky, who was born Nick Rivera Caminero to swiftly withdraw his endorsement of former president Donald Trump. His un-endorsement of Trump is bound to hurt since Jam has more than 44 million followers on Instagram alone.
As Axios points out, this adds to the fallout from Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. The rapper endorsed Trump to begin with because he thought he was the best option for the economy. However, he never thought anyone would stoop so low as to insult his birthplace. For Jam, that was one step too low.
“Never in my life did I think a comedian at a Trump rally would make fun of Puerto Ricans,” he said in a Spanish-language Instagram video he posted Wednesday. He concluded the video by saying Puerto Rico should be respected.
Perhaps Jam hasn’t paid much attention to Trump, because if he had, he would realize Trump is the worst sort of racist. One who tossed paper towels to a crowd of Puerto Ricans whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Maria. Who also insulted people from “Sh*thole countries.”
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And Jam isn’t the only noted Puerto Rican to jettison his endorsement — and the fallout is beginning to resemble a looming storm, with stars such as Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Don Omar endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in the wake of the event.
“Trump has shown us, time and again, what he thinks of us,” Don Omar posted on Instagram. And El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper also followed suit, endorsing Harris on Tuesday.
It’s lovely to think that Harris will benefit from this as the fallout from allowing such a racist comedian to make cruel jokes at the expense of innocent people. Even the Trump campaign can’t back away from him fast enough.
“I have no idea who he is,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, per The Guardian. “Somebody said there was a comedian that jokes about Puerto Rico or something and I have no idea who he is. Never saw him, never heard of him, and don’t want to hear of him.”
The former president added: “They put a comedian in, which everybody does.
“You throw comedians in, you don’t vet them and go crazy. It’s nobody’s fault. But somebody said some bad things,” he continued.
He then complained that his critics have “taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us, who said something, and they try and make a big deal”.
“I can’t imagine that it’s a big deal,” Trump concluded.
But at one point, Hannity asked Trump if he wished Hinchcliffe hadn’t appeared at the rally, and the ex-president responded:
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes, and probably he shouldn’t have been there, yeah.”
So it’s sad that someone on Trump’s team didn’t vet this jerk, but this is a plus for the Harris campaign, so it’s not such a bad deal after all.
But I hope voters remember all this when they head to the polls on Tuesday.
Please, please remember.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
