Jennifer Lopez introduced Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday night (Oct. 31), imploring the audience to take a hard look at the stark differences between the sitting Vice President and twice impeached former President Donald Trump.
“At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels,” Lopez said of Trump in reference to his rally at MSG on Sunday in which a comedian talk a succession of racist and sexist jokes, including on in which he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day, OK? It was every Latino in this country, it was humanity and anyone of decent character,” said Lopez, who endorsed Harris this week. The offensive comment from the comedian who also made an off-color joke about the O.J. Simpson murders tied to Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, set up more than a dozen other opening speakers who warmed up the crowd for Trump with equally offensive comments. One referred to Democrats as “degenerates… lowlives [and] Jew-haters,” while fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson purposely misstated Harris’ heritage by calling her the “first Samoan Malaysian low IQ, former California prosecutor to ever be elected President.”
The Puerto Rico slur, in particular, drove endorsements for Harris from Lopez, as well as P.R. natives Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin, Luis Fonsi and Nicky Jam, who withdrew his previous endorsement of Trump to throw in with the Harris/Walz campaign amid the wave of anger over the slur about the U.S. territory whose 3.2 million residents are U.S. citizens, but who cannot vote in elections. Lopez stressed that she was not on stage supporting Harris at the event in the crucial swing state “to trash anyone or bring them down.”
But with just days before Tuesday’s (Nov. 5) election, the singer explained, “I know what that can feel like and I wouldn’t do it to my worst enemy, or even when facing the biggest adversary I think America has internally ever had,” in reference to convicted felon Trump, who has vowed to use the engines of presidential power to take vengeance on his political enemies if re-elected. “But over Kamala Harris’ entire career, she has proven to us who she is. She has shown up for us every day, for the people. And it’s time for us to show up for her.”
Lopez noted that her parents were born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York before she was born, saying, “We are Americans. I am a mother. I am a sister. I am an actor and an entertainer and I like Hollywood endings. I like when the good guy, or in this case the good girl, wins. And with an understanding of our past and a faith in our future, I will be casting my ballot for Kamala Harris for president of the United States proudly.”
She also added, “You can’t even spell American without ‘Rican.”
Pollsters continue to call the contest between Harris and former reality TV host Trump a toss-up, which might also explain why Harris invited Lopez and Mexican rock band Maná — who performed at Thursday’s rally — to join her in a state where Latinos represent around 30% of the population; across the country an estimated 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year. Earlier in the day, Los Tigres del Norte performed at a Harris rally in Phoenix.
While Lopez and Harris were encouraging people to vote, Trump stage a stunt in Green Bay, WI in which he dressed up like a garbage collector in an orange vest and drove in circles on an airport tarmac in a Trump-branded garbage truck. His campaign said it was in an effort to call attention to a video of President Biden saying “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter,” which the White House later clarified was a reference to the other speakers at Trump’s rally.
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden added.
Check out video and photos of Lopez at the Harris campaign below.
