In a strong open letter published by San Juan, the Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico has called on former President Donald Trump to personally apologize for the controversial comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Madison rally in Sunday Square Garden in New York. On Monday, Archbishop Roberto González Nieves expressed concern over Hinchcliffe’s characterization of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” during Trump’s event. The remarks sparked a backlash on social media, with a video of the prank viewed more than 27.7 million times on X, formerly Twitter, by Monday morning.
“Puerto Rico is not a floating island of garbage. Puerto Rico is a beautiful country inhabited by a beautiful and noble people,” wrote González Nieves, who consulted with other Puerto Rican bishops before publishing the letter. He highlighted the territory’s contributions to United States military service, noting that “more Puerto Rican soldiers died in the Vietnam War in the United States military than soldiers from any state in the United States.”
