Bad Bunny, Residente, Daddy Yankee, and More Artists Call For Peaceful Puerto Rico Protests
Bad Bunny, Residente, Daddy Yankee, iLe, Ricky Martin, and more of Puerto Rico's music royalty have been calling for governor Ricardo Rosselló's resignation and urging the people to join the protests in front of his house. It all began last week, when Puerto Rico's Center For Investigative Journalism published 889 pages of a private chat between the governor and 11 of his top aides and cabinet members.
Officials who were in the chat and were still in the administration submitted their resignations as the messages included profanity-laced, misogynistic, and homophobic comments aimed at opposition politicians, journalists, and celebrities, and cruel, mocking remarks about the deaths following Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in September 2017, among other topics.
The leaks came the same week that two former officials from Rosselló's administration were arrested by the FBI as part of a federal corruption investigation. The governor's excuse over the chats was that they were private remarks made as a way to blow off some steam after long days of work, but this incident plus previous FBI arrests created an uproar, and Puerto Ricans demanded that he step down. Rosselló announced he would not resign Tuesday, hours after police fired tear gas into crowds of protesters.
Meanwhile, major Puerto Rican celebrities have been urging people to take action, to join the protests peacefully, and to demand Rosselló's resignation. Some of the stars are even saying they will personally join in. The hashtag #RickyRenuncia (Resign Ricky) was trending worldwide on Monday, and Residente, Bad Bunny and iLe even released a song called "Afilando los Cuchillos" (Sharpening the Knives), calling out the hypocrisy of Rosselló's government and mentioning how he's been lying to the people of Puerto Rico.
Keep scrolling to see some how artists have been supporting the Puerto Rican protests and calling for the resignation of Ricardo Rosselló.
