Nicky Jam Walks Back Trump Endorsement: ‘Puerto Rico Deserves Respect’

By newadmin / Published on Wednesday, 30 Oct 2024 19:34 PM / No Comments / 0 views

Nicky Jam is taking back his endorsement of Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the Puerto Rican singer — who endorsed the former president at a rally last month — shared a video on his Instagram revealing that he “renounces” his support for Trump, citing Tony Hinchcliffe’s recent “floating island of garbage” joke at a Trump event.

“The reason why I supported Donald Trump is because I thought he’d be the best option for the U.S. economy where so many Latinos live, including me. Immigrants are suffering because of the economy,” he said in his video. “Since he’s a businessman, I thought he’d be the best movement.”

“I never in my life thought a month later a comedian would criticize my country and speak poorly of my country so for that reason, I renounce any support of Donald Trump, and I will throw myself to the sideline of anything political,” he added. “Puerto Rico deserves respect.”

Nicky Jam’s post comes just days after Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin, Luis Fonsi, and Jennifer Lopez were among the artists of Puerto Rican descent who reshared posts from Vice President Kamala Harris the same day Hinchcliffe made his joke about Puerto Rico. (Jam was one of three Puerto Rican reggaetoneros, including Anuel AA and Justin Quiles, to support Trump.)

When Jam joined Trump onstage in Las Vegas last month, the former president misgendered him and seemed to have no idea who he was.

“Do you know Nicky? She’s hot. Where’s Nicky?” Trump said from the stage. “Oh, look, I’m glad he came up.” Once Jam took the stage, the Puerto Rican singer made a short speech, telling the crowd: “People that come from where I come from, they don’t meet the president. So I’m lucky. We need you. We need you back, right? We need you to be the president.”

Jam’s Trump endorsement of Trump drew intense backlash, including from Mexican band Maná, who pulled their collaboration with him from streaming services, with the band’s frontman Fher Olvera writing, “Maná doesn’t work with racists.”

Following Jam’s retraction, Olvera commended Jam’s decision to walk back the endorsement in a statement to Rolling Stone: “It’s never too late to change your mind. There’s still time to do the right thing. This is about exercising our Latino power. Go out and vote for our rights.”

Tomorrow, Maná will join Vice President Harris during a rally in Las Vegas, where Jennifer Lopez will also speak. Although Puerto Rico can’t help elect the president, there are thousands of Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania, one of the pivotal battleground states in the 2024 election.