Bad Bunny is throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris by sharing a video of the Democratic presidential nominee to his more than 45 million followers on Instagram.
Bad Bunny, whose official name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most famous artists of the moment. His support could be a boost for the Harris campaign as it tries to bolster its support with Latino and Puerto Rican voters, among whom Trump has been working to gain ground.
The 30-year-old Puerto Rican reggaeton artist, who has popular songs such as “Dakiti” and “Titi Me Preguntó,” has won three Grammy Awards. He was the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and was only surpassed by Taylor Swift in 2023. He was named Artist of the Year by Apple Music in 2022.
The video shared by Bad Bunny on Instagram shows Harris saying “there’s so much at stake in this election for Puerto Rican voters and for Puerto Rico.” A representative of the artist confirmed that Bad Bunny is supporting Harris.
The artist then shared several times another part of the clip where Harris says, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader,” she says.
His endorsement came shortly after a comedian who spoke at the opening of Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” The remarks by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe were immediately criticized by the Harris’ campaign.
The Puerto Rican vote is sizable in Pennsylvania, which is arguably the hardest fought of the swing states in the 2024 election.
Bad Bunny has been vocal about criticizing Puerto Rico’s electric system, which was razed by Hurricane Maria. In a 2022 music video for his song “El Apagon,” the artist called out the company Luma Energy, which handles transmission and distribution, for the constant power outages that plague the island.
One of his most recent songs, “Una Velita,” is also a protest against the government response following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017.
A year after the storm, public health experts estimated that nearly 3,000 perished because of the effects of Hurricane Maria. But Trump, whose efforts to help the island territory recover have been persistently criticized, repeatedly questioned that number saying it rose “like magic.”
His visit to the island after the hurricane elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels. His administration released $13 billion in assistance years later, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election. And a federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery.
Bad Bunny also shared a part of the clip showing Harris saying that Trump “abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
In 2020, Bad Bunny allowed the Biden campaign to use one of his hits “Pero Ya No” in a TV ad.
Adriana Gomez Licon, The Associated Press
