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!!”
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Police clash with protesters as they demonstrate against Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, along a street leading to the governor’s mansion in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Demonstrators affected by tear gas thrown by the police run during clashes in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Carlos Giusti/AP)
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Ricky Martin waves a flag as he joins with thousands of other people as they fill the Expreso Las Américas highway calling for the ouster of Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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People take to the Las Americas Highway in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the ninth day of continuous protests demanding Gov. Ricardo Rossello’s resignation. (Eric Rojas/AFP/Getty Images)
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People take to the Las Americas Highway in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the 9th day of continuous protests demanding the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rossell. (ERIC ROJAS/AFP/Getty Images)
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A protester waves the Puerto Rican flag in San Juan during protests demanding the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rossell. (ERIC ROJAS/AFP/Getty Images)
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A protester hugs a police officer, part of a battalion pushing back a group blocking the gate of the Yolanda Guerrero Cultural Center in Guaynabo, where earlier Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo “Ricky” Antonio Rossello Nevares met with a group of mayors from his party. (Pedro Portal / Miami Herald)
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Protesters gathered outside of the Yolanda Guerrero Cultural center in Guaynabo, after Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo “Ricky” Antonio Rossello Nevares left a meeting with mayors from his party. (Pedro Portal / Miami Herald)
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Protesters clash with police in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Eric Rojas / AFP/Getty Images)
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Protesters are detained by police in San Juan as thousands marched in Puerto Rico for a fifth day. (Eric Rojas / AFP/Getty Images)
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Police in riot gear advance on demonstrators during protests against Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello in Old San Juan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Protesters march in the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Eric Rojas / AFP/Getty Images)
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Singer Ricky Martin, left, waves the Puerto Rican flag during a protest against Gov. Ricardo Rosello in San Juan. (Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo / Associated Press)
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Protesters holding a giant Puerto Rico flag march against Gov. Ricardo Rosello in San Juan. (Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo / Associated Press)
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Latin trap and reggaeton Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, holds a Puerto Rico flag before a protest march against Gov. Ricardo Rosello in San Juan (Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo / Associated Press)
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Protesters calling for the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello march outside La Fortaleza, the governor’s residence, in San Juan on Wednesday. (Pedro Portal / TNS)
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Protesters demand the resignation of Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello during a protest at La Fortaleza in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They want him to step down after a series of his text messages filled with homophobic slurs was leaked.
(Thais Llorca / EPA) (Thais Llorca / EPA-EFE/REX)
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Maria Linoshka, wearing tape over her mouth reading “resign” in Spanish, marches with other protesters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, along a street leading to the governor’s mansion. (Joe Raedle / Getty Image s)
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Protesters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, demonstrate along a street leading to the governor’s mansion. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Jose Carlos Villeneuve joins with other protesters demonstrating along a street leading to the governor’s mansion in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Protesters demonstrate along a street leading to the governor’s mansion in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Police stand guard during a protest at La Fortaleza in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello. (Thais Llorca / EPA-EFE / REX)
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Nicole Lopez shows her national pride while joining other protesters calling for Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello to step down because of his homophobic text messages. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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.’”
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.”
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.”
