How Star PR Musicians Were Mentioned in Gov.'s Leaked Chats
Over the weekend, 889 pages of a controversial group chat that included Puerto Rico’s Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and staff members shook the government, which had already been rocked by allegations of corruption. The messages revealed sexist, racist, homophobic and violent comments about the governor's opponents and even members of his own party.
The leaked chats also included references to Puerto Rican star performers like Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Bad Bunny, who are now all firing back at the governor.
Here is how those celebrities got caught up the leaked chat scandal, through no fault of their own.
Ricky Martin:
The “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer, one of the most beloved artists among Puerto Ricans, was mentioned by one of Rosselló’s top officials.
The administration's former chief financial officer, Christian Sobrino, leveled homophobic and machista slurs against the international superstar, who’s openly gay, married and is the father of three children.
Sobrino questioned and mocked the singer’s sexual orientation by saying Martin preferred to have sex with men over women because “women don’t live up to the expectations.”
The singer joined Puerto Ricans calling for Rosselló’s resignation on Saturday with a string of tweets.
“Your conduct is not a result of an error or inexperience, it has been a conscious and deliberate act, totally irresponsible and that attempts against human rights [...] Act with true generosity, courage and love for Puerto Rico and cede your post to another person with the wisdom and leadership to lead our fate as a country,” Martin said.
Bad Bunny:
Trap singer Bad Bunny, internationally known for songs like “Estamos Bien” and “La Romana,” was also mentioned in the chat.
Sobrino made a joke about Bad Bunny’s surprise visit back in January with Gov. Rosselló and Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Residente, co-founder of Calle 13. The former CFO used their visit to ridicule a feminist group, Colectiva Feminista, amid a gender violence crisis in the island that last year took the lives of 23 women. The group was outside the governor’s mansion and was never granted a meeting with Rosselló.
“Residente and Bad Bunny > Colectiva?” CFO Sobrino said in the chat.
Bad Bunny recently said both he and Residente were drunk in Old San Juan and decided to visit Rosselló at 2:00 a.m. The governor welcomed them both. The artists then shared a picture of the meeting on Instagram.
Sobrino made a joke about Bad Bunny’s surprise visit back in January with Gov. Rosselló and Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Residente, co-founder of Calle 13. The former CFO used their visit to ridicule a feminist group, Colectiva Feminista, amid a gender violence crisis in the island that last year took the lives of 23 women. The group was outside the governor’s mansion and was never granted a meeting with Rosselló.
“Residente and Bad Bunny > Colectiva?” CFO Sobrino said in the chat.
Bad Bunny recently said both he and Residente were drunk in Old San Juan and decided to visit Rosselló at 2:00 a.m. The governor welcomed them both. The artists then shared a picture of the meeting on Instagram.
Benito MartÃnez, the artist’s real name, who was touring in Europe, announced Monday on Twitter that he’s on his way to Puerto Rico and has invited people to protest. The trap sensation is expected to join protesters in Old San Juan on Wednesday.
“I’m going to the island and I’d love if you join me and the people already in the streets. These people (the government) think we’re scared and we’ll demonstrate them that they’re wrong,” he tweeted.
The artist, born and raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, said on Sunday that he believes in forgiveness “but one thing is to forgive and another one to let them step on us.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda:
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actor and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of Broadway’s hit musical “Hamilton,” was indirectly mentioned in the chat early January when his show was rescheduled and relocated from the Theater of the University of Puerto Rico to the Centro de Bellas Artes in Santurce, a borough in San Juan. The "Hamilton" show in Puerto Rico was an effort to promote art and help the island in its recovery after Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
In the chat, former CFO Sobrino shared a news article announcing the cancellation of the show at the theater of the university, to which the governor replied with an angel emoji. Carlos Bermúdez, the governor’s former media consultant, then said “Operation RR,” appearing to insinuate the governor was behind the decision.
Lin-Manuel’s father Luis Miranda told NBC that “it’s sad [...] these were a bunch of teenagers claiming credit for something that, quite frankly, they had nothing to do with.”
Luis Miranda said the producers of "Hamilton" in Puerto Rico decided to change the venue due to security reasons, primarily because the University's workers union was planning to protest because of the economic crisis that's hitting the public college. Furthermore, there’s a law that doesn’t permit the police to intervene in the campus, and that was enough cause for concern.
“Although we couldn’t stay there (at the University of Puerto Rico), to have been able to invest $1 million for the university to have a theater of top category [...] we’re proud of everything that we’ve done for the university, which has been the cornerstone of Puerto Rico’s development for many generations and it must be for generations to come, too,” he said.
Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted on Monday that “#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. While the governor and his buddies tried to claim some credit for it in their sad little chat.”
“And the bigger picture is this: the Hamilton falsehoods in these documents are a minor subplot in a far larger, very disturbing portrait of how this Administration operates,” Miranda said.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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