CNN
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Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny signaled support for Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday, sharing a clip on social media of the vice president’s plans for the island moments after a speaker made an offensive joke at Donald Trump’s New York rally, sparking outrage.
The move comes as both the Harris and Trump campaigns have been vying for the Puerto Rican vote, especially in battleground Pennsylvania, where about 500,000 Puerto Ricans live. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known as Bad Bunny, shared the campaign clip to his more than 45 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 a competent leader,” Harris says in the video, which Bad Bunny reshared multiple times with a focus on Trump. “He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
Thousands of people in Puerto Rico died as a result of Hurricane Maria in 2017 — shortly after Hurricane Irma caused mass power outages throughout the island. While surveying damage in Puerto Rica after Hurricane Maria, then-President Trump drew backlash after tossing supplies, including paper towels, to residents of the island.
Bad Bunny’s post Sunday was the first indication of support from the artist as the Harris campaign tries to shore up celebrity endorsements. And it came as outrage built over remarks made by Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and podcast host, assailing Puerto Rico at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden.
“There’s a lot going on, like, 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. Yeah. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said. Puerto Rico is a US territory.
Tony Hinchcliffe criticizes Latinos and Puerto Rico in opening remarks of Trump rally
Harris campaign officials had been in conversation with Bad Bunny’s team, according to a source familiar, hoping to have him lend his support to the vice president’s plan for Puerto Rico.
“This has been a thoughtful and deliberate approach focused on the issues,” the source said.
A representative for Bad Bunny told CNN that his repost of Harris’ video on Instagram was “not an endorsement,” but that he is “supporting” Harris. “Benito’s political focus has always been on Puerto Rico,” his representative told CNN. His representative did not indicate whether a formal endorsement would be coming from the musician ahead of the election.
An endorsement from Bad Bunny has been at the top of the Harris campaign’s wish list of celebrity endorsements for months, according to a source familiar with the campaign’s Hollywood outreach. The campaign understands the large reach Bad Bunny has within the Latino community and believes his support could help sway young male Latino voters – a demographic that has gravitated toward Trump.
The campaign also celebrated Bad Bunny, along with Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, sharing the vice president’s message on social media.
“Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi also joined the chorus of Puerto Rican stars sharing their support for Harris, posting a video clip of Hinchcliffe’s joke at the Trump rally with the caption, “Are you serious?” to his 16 million Instagram followers.
“It’s ok to have different views, and I respect those who think different than me…but going down this racist path ain’t it,” Fonsi posted on his Instagram story, along with emojis that signaled he is voting for Harris.
Earlier Sunday, Harris visited Freddy & Tony’s Restaurant, a Puerto Rican restaurant in north Philadelphia, where she spoke to Puerto Rico’s challenges and discussed her policies focused on the island.
“I’m going to create an opportunity economy task force for Puerto Rico,” she said, adding that she wants to focus on two things: building economic opportunity for the island and improving the electrical grid.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister and Max Rego contributed to this report.