Puerto Rico bristles after comedian's insult at Trump rally
Source: The Morning Call/AP
UPDATED: October 28, 2024 at 5:16 PM EDT
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A comic who insulted Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage” during his set before a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York was the latest humiliation for an island territory that has long suffered from mistreatment, residents said Monday in expressions of fury that could affect the presidential election.
While Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is competing with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after stand-up comic Tony Hinchcliffe said that, “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny announced he was backing Harris. Hinchcliffe’s set also included lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election.
The Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior advisor Danielle Alvarez said in a statement. Milagros Serrano, 81, has a son who lives in the swing state of Pennsylvania and said the entire family was outraged by the comedian’s comments. “He can’t be talking about Puerto Rico like that,” she said as she left for a medical appointment. “He’s the one who’s a piece of garbage.”
Read more: https://www.mcall.com/2024/10/28/puerto-rico-bristles-after-a-us-comedian-calls-it-a-floating-island-of-garbage-at-a-trump-rally/
by Beatrice Forman
Updated Oct. 28, 2024, 4:42 p.m. ET | Published Oct. 28, 2024, 12:55 p.m. ET
After a comedian levied racist comments against Puerto Ricans to pump up the crowd at a Sunday rally for former President Donal Trump, Philadelphia City Councilperson Quetcy Lozada said she and her friends were so angry they couldn’t sleep. The remarks, made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Madison Square Garden, had reverberated through Philadelphia’s Latino community, leading to a news conference in Fairhill where elected officials and faith leaders urged the city’s Puerto Rican residents to do anything but sit and stew on Election Day.
“Our frustration and our anger should be turning into voting,” said Reading Mayor Eddie Morán — who is Puerto Rican — while flanked by Lozada, State Rep. Danilo Burgos, and representatives from several community organizations. Organized by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, the convening took aim at jokes Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico — and Latinos more broadly — before Trump took the stage Sunday.
”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. I think it it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said to a tepid audience response. In an election where both campaigns have poured millions into winning Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, the state’s growing Puerto Rican population has created a large voting bloc that Trump and Harris have attempted to court with varying degrees of success.
Philadelphia has one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the country, second to only New York City. Close to 137,000 Puerto Ricans live in Philadelphia, comprising nearly 29% of Pennsylvania’s 473,000 Puerto Rican residents, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. Puerto Rican residents also make up large swaths of other cities in the commonwealth, such as Allentown and Reading.
(snip)
I saw where Allentown plans to close the schools tomorrow when 45 and his band of hoodlums show up there for a rally.
= new reply since forum marked as read
They got "dissed" and there will be hell to pay.
No they are talking about VOTING (finally) and for Harris. Many of the precincts where they live here in Philly have some of the worst turnout of any (I expect some of it due to language barriers despite multilingual ballots/instructions, etc). There has been an extra effort put in place this election season, to engage in those communities, but even then, there was somewhat lackluster interest... until now.
Talk about a trigger!
