Latin Star 'Withdraws Support' For Trump Over Puerto Rico Joke

Nicky Jam has renounced his support for Donald Trump after a comedian at the former president’s rally at Madison Square Garden, New York, branded Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

The Latin singer revealed in a post on social media that he only supported Trump because he thought the billionaire would be great for the economy but that he would never condone disrespect to Puerto Rico.

Donald Trump’s campaign has since distanced itself from the comment made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe.

Taking to his Instagram page on Wednesday, Nicky Jam revealed his decision to stop supporting Trump, citing the crude joke made about Puerto Rico as the reason why.

“The reason I supported Donald Trump is because I believed it was what’s best for the economy in the United States, where a lot of Latinos live,” Nicky told his 43.5 million followers.

The singer stated that he believed that backing Trump, who is a “businessman,” was the “right move” as it would help “immigrants that are suffering over the state of the economy.”

“Never in my life did I think that one month later there would be a comedian who would criticize my country and speak poorly of my country,” Nicky added per People Magazine. “And for that I withdraw my support of Donald Trump. Puerto Rico should be respected.”

Back in September, Trump went viral after mistaking the Latin singer for a woman. At the time, he said, “She’s hot,” while calling Nicky to join him on stage at his rally.

People on social media criticized the singer after he announced that he was no longer supporting Trump, with many claiming he shouldn’t have in the first place.

One person wrote, “How dumb do you have to be to endorse someone that doesn’t gaf about you.”

Another noted, “Even before the ‘comedian’ said what he said, he still didn’t like you, but good for u for seeing the light.”

A third person commented, “Anyone who endorsed Trump prior to his MAGA Nazi rally at MSG should definitely retract their endorsement, or their fans are going to think they’re MAGA Nazis, too.”

Nicky withdrew his support for Trump after the ex-president’s Madison Square Garden rally, where over 30 speakers, including comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, were invited to address the crowd of MAGA supporters.

While there were a lot of prominent personalities at the event, Hinchcliffe managed to draw all the attention to himself due to his racist joke in which he described Puerto Rico as “garbage.”

“There’s a lot going on. 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’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said at the time.

After receiving backlash for his comments, the comedian took to X, saying, “These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there.”

Vice President Kamala Harris gained some new support thanks to the “garbage” joke made by Hinchcliffe.

Latin stars, such as Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin, who were initially quiet or neutral about the election, immediately voiced support for Harris while condemning the remark about Puerto Rico.

While endorsing Harris, Bad Bunny shared one of her quotes to his 45.7 million followers on Instagram: “I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and competent leader. He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towel and insults.”

Lopez and Martin also referenced Harris’ quote about what Trump did for Puerto Rico while endorsing her for president.

Shortly after Hinchliffe’s remarks made headlines, the Trump campaign released a statement distancing itself from the comedian.

“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said, per AP News.

Another campaign spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said it was simply a joke that “fell flat” during her appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

After being pressed on why the joke was allowed, Leavitt replied, “Look, it was a comedian who made a joke in poor taste.”

She continued, “Obviously, that joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or our campaign. And I think it is sad that the media will pick up on one joke that was made by a comedian rather than the truths that were shared by the phenomenal list of speakers that we had.”

Leavitt added, “And the crowd, they didn’t mind, right? Again, it was a diverse group of people. The joke fell flat, but the crowd was there because they know who President Trump is and they know he wants to be a president for all Americans.”