Bad Bunny, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ricky Martin are calling for the resignation of Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.
But why?
On Saturday, 889 pages of private chats between Rosselló and members of his staff were leaked after two of the governor’s former officials were arrested by the FBI on corruption charges.
The documents revealed that Rosselló had engaged in vulgar, sexist and homophobic conversations. In the chats Rosselló joked about the large number of deaths on the island after Hurricane Maria, called a reporter a “whore” and insulted San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, saying she must be “off her meds.”
After news of the document leak, Puerto Ricans took to the streets to call for the governor’s resignation. The site of the largest protests is at La Fortaleza, the official residence of the governor in San Juan.
There is now a mass protest planned for Wednesday evening in San Juan to demand for Rosselló's resignation.
In a news conference on Tuesday morning, Rosselló announced that he would not be resigning.
“I have not committed illegal acts,” Rosselló said. “I committed inappropriate acts.”
Since the revelation of Rosselló's remarks, Puerto Rican music superstar Bad Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) expressed his discontent on Twitter and called for Rosselló to renounce, using the hashtag #RickyRenuncia. On Monday the Latin trap artist tweeted that he would be interrupting his current tour to join the protests in Puerto Rico.
“I am going to go down to the island and I would like to see you all join me and those who have already taken to the street,” Bad Bunny wrote in Spanish. Government officials “think that we are afraid and we will demonstrate to them that they are wrong!!”
(Thais Llorca / EPA) (Thais Llorca / EPA-EFE/REX)
Martin, the Latin pop star whose sexuality Rosselló criticized in his private conversations, has shared his thoughts on Twitter, too.
“I will walk with my people, with my nation,” Martin said in Spanish in a video on Twitter Tuesday. “We’re going to be at the Capitol at 5 p.m. and we’re walking to La Fortaleza and we’re going to let Ricardo Rosselló know that we don’t want him in power and that we are tired. Puerto Rico has suffered enough and we can no longer make do with all these ‘leaders.’”
#PuertoRico nos vemos mañana en el la marcha a ls 5pm frente al Capitolio pic.twitter.com/4cZM1KF3Kn
— Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin) July 17, 2019
Miranda, the creator and star of the Broadway hit “Hamilton,” was vocal on social media after the leaked documents revealed conversations about the “Hamilton” run in Puerto Rico in January.
"#HamiltonPR was a triumph,” Miranda tweeted on Monday. “We did what we set out to do: raised 15 million for arts on the island, gave the tourism economy a boost—AND we rebuilt the UPR theater. While the governor and his buddies tried to claim some credit for it in their sad little chat.”
#HamiltonPR was a triumph. We did what we set out to do: raised 15 million for arts on the island, gave the tourism economy a boost—AND we rebuilt the UPR theater.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) July 15, 2019
While the governor and his buddies tried to claim some credit for it in their sad little chat. https://t.co/80Hj1I5KTX
Miranda has continued tweeting about the situation. “This is not a moment, it’s a movement. Never seen coraje (anger) turn so quickly into coraje (courage),” tweeted Miranda on Wednesday morning, referencing a line in “Hamilton.” “In solidarity with [Puerto Rico] in the good times and the bad.”
This is not a moment, it’s a movement.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) July 17, 2019
Never seen coraje (anger) turn so quickly into coraje (courage).
Can’t get to 🇵🇷 in time.
But I’ll be at the protests in Union Square today at 5pm.
In solidarity with 🇵🇷 en las buenas y en las malas.
❤️❤️❤️#RickyVeteYa https://t.co/PbTnQhGbLM
