Ricky Martin joined a mass protest in front of the house of Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló (D) last night.
Thousands of people protested Rosselló after a set of messages between him and senior administration officials showed him repeatedly using and condoning misogynist and anti-LGBTQ language.
In a video he posted to Instagram, Martin said that he was “tired of the cynicism.”
“They put down women. They put down the LGBT community, people with disabilities,” he said. “It is insane. We are tired. We can’t take it anymore.”
“Puerto Rico has suffered enough.”
A post shared by Ricky (@ricky_martin) on Jul 17, 2019 at 10:20pm PDT
The leaked messages between Rosselló and administration officials showed Rosselló using the word “faggot” repeatedly to refer to political rivals, many of whom are not gay. Officials also referred to rivals as “cocksuckers” and implied that they were gay as an insult.
The messages also targeted Ricky Martin himself at one point. Puerto Rico’s chief financial officer Christian Sobrino wrote that Ricky Martin is gay because he’s sexist.
“Nothing says patriarchal oppression like Ricky Martin,” Sobrino wrote. “Ricky Martin is such a male chauvinist that he fucks men because women don’t measure up. Pure patriarchy.”
In a separate discussion, Rosselló wrote, “You’d be doing me a big favor,” in response to Sobrino saying he wanted to “shoot up” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.
Sobrino and another official have resigned after the emails were leaked, but Rosselló has said that he will stay in office.
Yesterday, Martin tweeted in Spanish that Rosselló should resign.
“Do an act of true generosity, value, and love for Puerto Rico and give your position to another person with the wisdom and leadership to guide our future as a people,” Martin tweeted.
Haga un acto de verdadera generosidad, valía y amor por Puerto Rico y ceda su cargo a otra persona con la sabiduria y liderazgo de dirigir nuesto destino como pueblo.
— Ricky Martin (@ricky_martin) July 13, 2019