Nicky Jam, a Reggaeton superstar, retracted his endorsement of former President Trump on Wednesday after a backlash over a joke that was poorly received at Trump’s Madison Square Garden event on Sunday.
In a Spanish Instagram post, Nick Rivera Caminero, a singer born in Mexico, explained that he had endorsed Trump’s economic plans, saying “[Trump] is a businessman. I thought it was a good move.”
“I never in my life thought that a comedian would criticize my nation, to speak badly of my country a month after I did. I therefore renounce all support for Donald Trump and step away from any political situation. Puerto Rico se respeta, Nicky Jam,” he said.
After comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a joke at a rally, in which he compared Puerto Rico with floating garbage, the Trump campaign spent the last three days trying to contain the damage.
Trump has denied hearing the joke, and his campaign disavowed the joke. However, many Puerto Ricans, including public figures and politicians, are furious over the slur.
“We are seeing it in the real world.” It started on social media, but it quickly spread,” Michael Toledo said. He is the executive director of Centro Hispano Daniel Torres, Reading, Pa.
This fracas could tip Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, in favor of Vice President Harris.
Hispanic voters, particularly those from Puerto Rico, along the Highway 222 Corridor (also known as the Latino Corridor) are a crucial demographic in a state where most polls show a tie.
Trump didn’t directly address the joke at a rally held Tuesday in Allentown, Pa. (the northern end of the Latino Corridor), but said that “nobody loves the Latino and Puerto Rican communities more than me.”
Toledo claims that the anger over the handling of this joke is not limited to the Puerto Rican population.
“This isn’t just a Puerto Rican problem. “This has offended Latinos from all over the world,” he said.
Democrats have played up the final-week twist, but it has overshadowed Harris’s final speech during the campaign at the White House Ellipse. It also set the stage for Biden’s gaffe to further muddy the water.
Biden, in a phone call with Voto Latino and response to Hinchcliffe’s joke, appeared to label Trump supporters as “garbage”. However, the White House clarified that Biden had been criticizing the “demonization” of Latinos by Trump supporters rather than the supporters themselves.
Trump echoed Biden’s remarks on Wednesday, telling his supporters at a rally that “they treated you like garbage.”
