Bad Bunny has released an eight-minute tribute video to his Puerto Rico homeland. He captioned it “garbage,” alluding to a speaker’s remarks, at a Donald Trump rally on Sunday, invoking various racist stereotypes and referring to Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage.” Watch Bad Bunny’s cinematic love-letter to the island on Instagram.
Bad Bunny reacted swiftly to Sunday’s comments—made by Tony Hinchcliffe at New York’s Madison Square Garden, in what was framed as a comedy set—by sharing a clip on social media from the Kamala Harris campaign, outlining her plans for Puerto Rico. The video took aim at former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of Hurricane Maria during his presidency, tying in with Bad Bunny’s recent protest song, “Una Velita,” which addressed the domestic political response to the 2017 disaster. Resharing Harris’ video did not amount to an endorsement, a Bad Bunny representative told CNN, but he is “supporting” Harris.
Hinchcliffe, whose remarks have been criticized by Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and other Democrats, and even disavowed by the Trump campaign, said he was making a joke that has been taken out of context. The context was that he played on racist stereotypes of Black and Jewish Americans, too, and the joke, in full, was: “I don’t know if you know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Bad Bunny’s new video features Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro, who joins many other Puerto Rican celebrities—such as Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Ricky Martin—in condemning the Trump campaign and Hinchcliffe. In addition, during his performance ahead of the New York Yankees’ World Series game last night, Fat Joe—a Bronx native of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent—pointedly shout out Puerto Rico.
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