Guilty pleasures
By NewsPress Now
Latin superstar
Bad Bunny backs Harris for president
Bad Bunny threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday by sharing a video of the Democratic presidential nominee shortly after a comedian at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally made crude jokes about Latinos and called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” angering artists and some Hispanic Republicans.
Bad Bunny, whose official name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most famous artists of the moment. His backing could be a boost for the Harris campaign as it tries to bolster its support with Latino voters, among whom Trump has been working to gain ground.
The video Bad Bunny shared with his 45 million Instagram followers shows Harris saying “there’s so much at stake in this election for Puerto Rican voters and for Puerto Rico.” A representative of the artist confirmed that Bad Bunny is supporting Harris.
Bad Bunny signaled his support moments after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made the remarks on Puerto Rico. Later, Hinchcliffe said “these Latinos, they love making babies” and said they don’t use the pull-out birth control method.
The comments on Puerto Rico were immediately criticized by Harris’ campaign, but were also called out by Angel Cintron, the head of the GOP on the island, and Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents parts of Miami and has participated in recent Trump events.
Salazar wrote: “Disgusted by “@TonyHinchcliffe’s racist comment calling Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values. Puerto Rico sent 48,000+ soldiers to Vietnam, with over 345 Purple Hearts awarded. This bravery deserves respect. Educate yourself!”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez in a statement said “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Luis Fonsi, a Puerto Rican artist who sings the hit “Despacito,” went on Instagram and wrote “going down this racist path ain’t it.”
“We are not OK with this constant hate,” he wrote in a message shared on Instagram. “It’s been abundantly clear that these people have no respect for us.”
Ricky Martin, who had previously endorsed Harris, was also offended by the comment and said “that’s what they think of us,” on Instagram.
In showing support, Bad Bunny shared several times another part of the clip Harris made on Puerto Rico, saying “I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader.”
The 30-year-old Puerto Rican reggaeton artist, who has popular songs such as “Dakiti” and “Titi Me Preguntó,” has won three Grammy Awards. He was the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and was only surpassed by Taylor Swift in 2023. He was named Artist of the Year by Apple Music in 2022.
The Puerto Rican vote is sizable in Pennsylvania, which is arguably the hardest fought of the swing states in the 2024 election. Other Puerto Rican singers such as Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony had already expressed support for Harris. Trump has also attracted support from other popular stars from the island such as Anuel AA and Nicky Jam.
Bad Bunny has been vocal about criticizing Puerto Rico’s electric system, which was razed by Hurricane Maria. In a 2022 music video for his song “El Apagon,” the artist called out the company Luma Energy, which handles transmission and distribution, for the constant power outages that plague the island.
One of his most recent songs, “Una Velita,” is also a protest against the government response following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017.
A year after the storm, public health experts estimated that nearly 3,000 perished because of the effects of Hurricane Maria. But Trump, whose efforts to help the island territory recover have been persistently criticized, repeatedly questioned that number saying it rose “like magic.”
His visit to the island after the hurricane elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels. His administration released $13 billion in assistance years later, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election. And a federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery.
Bad Bunny also shared a part of the clip showing Harris saying that Trump “abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
Harris visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philadelphia earlier on Sunday and released her policy related to the island saying she wants to create a task force to attract investment to fix the electrical grid. And Trump is headed on Tuesday to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where more than half of its population is Hispanic and a majority of them from Puerto Rico.
In 2020, Bad Bunny allowed the Biden campaign to use one of his hits “Pero Ya No” in a TV ad.
‘Bob’s Burgers’
actor sentenced to one year in prison
WASHINGTON | An actor known for his roles in the television comedies “Bob’s Burgers” and “Arrested Development” was sentenced on Monday to one year in prison for his part in a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.
Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police officers guarding a tunnel entrance to the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Johnston also cracked jokes and interacted with other rioters as he used a cellphone to record the violence around him, prosecutors said.
Johnston expressed regret that he “made it more difficult for the police to do their job” on Jan. 6. He said he never would have guessed that a riot would erupt that day.
“That was because of my own ignorance, I believe,” he told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. “If I had been more political, I could have seen that coming, perhaps.”
The judge, who sentenced Johnston to one year and one day of imprisonment, allowed him to remain free after the hearing and report to prison at a date to be determined. Nichols said he recognizes that Johnston will miss out on caring for his 13-year-old autistic daughter while he is behind bars.
“But his conduct on January 6th was quite problematic. Reprehensible, really,” the judge said.
Johnston pleaded guilty in July to interfering with police officers during a civil disorder, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Prosecutors recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Johnston. Their sentencing memo includes a photograph of a smiling Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween party roughly two years after the siege.
“He thinks his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.
Johnston played pizzeria owner Jimmy Pesto Sr. in “Bob’s Burgers,” a police officer in “Arrested Development” and a street-brawling newsman in the movie “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Johnston also appeared on “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” an HBO sketch comedy series that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.
Johnston, a Chicago native, moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue an acting career. After the riot, Johnston was fired by the creator of “Bob’s Burgers,” lost a role in a movie based on the show and has “essentially been blacklisted” in Hollywood, said defense attorney Stanley Woodward.
“Instead, Mr. Johnston has worked as a handyman for the last two years — an obvious far cry from his actual expertise and livelihood in film and television,” Woodward wrote.
Woodward accused the government of exaggerating Johnston’s riot participation “because he is an acclaimed Hollywood actor.”
Johnston attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before he marched to the Capitol. He used a metal bike rack to scale a stone wall to reach the Capitol’s West Plaza before making his way to the mouth of a tunnel entrance that police were guarding on the Lower West Terrace.
“When he was under the archway, he turned and waved to other rioters, beckoning them to join him in fighting the police,” prosecutors wrote.
Entering the tunnel, Johnston helped other rioters flush chemical irritants out of their eyes. Another rioter gave him a stolen police shield, which he handed up closer to the police line. Johnston then joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police in the tunnel, a collective effort that crushed an officer against a door frame, prosecutors said.
Johnston recorded himself cracking a joke as rioters pushed an orange ladder toward police in the tunnel, saying, “We’re going to get those light bulbs fixed!”
A day after the riot, in a text message to an acquaintance, Johnston acknowledged being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess,” Johnston wrote.
FBI agents seized Johnston’s cellphone when they searched his California home in June 2021.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 rioters have been convicted and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
Jon Stewart will remain ‘Daily Show’ host on Mondays through 2025
NEW YORK | Jon Stewart isn’t done skewering the news — he’s signed on to continue hosting “The Daily Show” on Mondays through the end of next year.
Paramount announced Monday that Stewart would continue hosting the Comedy Central series once a week, as he’s done through much of 2024 in the runup to the U.S. presidential election.
The Emmy winner hosted “The Daily Show” from 1999 through 2015, delivering sharp, satirical takes on politics and current events and interviews with newsmakers. In his return run, he’s maintained his acerbic take on American politics and the presidential race, which was shaken up in July when President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
“His ability to cut through the noise and deliver clear-eyed insights is exactly what we need which is why we are thrilled to have him leading The Daily Show for another year,” said Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy.
Stewart, who returned in February and was originally supposed to host through the November election, joked in a statement that he wanted to host every other Monday, but that he will “suck it up” and keep up with it weekly.
Stewart will also remain an executive producer on the show, which relies on a revolving series of hosts for the other days of the week. “The Daily Show” airs Mondays through Thursday at 11 p.m. Eastern on Comedy Central and streams the next day on Paramount+.
—From AP reports
