By james art
There was no shortage of inflammatory comments during Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday night — against Puerto Ricans, against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and others.
Diversity has reached out to representatives of MSG and James L. Dolan, whose family owns the venue, for comment on the statements. An MSG representative responded with the following statement.
“As a business, we are neutral on political issues. We rent from both sides. We do not censor artists, performers or speakers.
Representatives noted that a fundraiser for then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden in March was held at Radio City Music Hall, which is also owned and operated by MSG, and raised $26 million for the campaign.
Former President Trump called out Dolan several times during his remarks on Sunday. “I want to thank Jim Dolan. He was amazing. He was just amazing. The work they have done. The work they have done. Thank you.” The two are longtime friends; Dolan held his wedding at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump even expressed sympathy for embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has been the subject of multiple misconduct lawsuits against his administration, leading to the resignation of most of his top officials. In words that echoed his comments about his own legal challenges, Trump claimed Adams “was treated pretty badly” for speaking out about the city’s migrant crisis — even though the charges against him are related to unrelated corruption charges with the migrant crisis.
“You know when you said this whole thing with migrants coming to New York, it’s just not sustainable. You know, we can’t do that. We’re trying to run a city, 100,000 migrants are coming. Trump said. “We can’t do it, we just can’t do it, it’s not possible, it’s not good.”
“He said it very well,” Trump continued. “I said, ‘Well, he’s going to be blamed by these lunatics for saying that.’ A year later, he was indicted.
Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin were among notable industry figures to support Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Sunday after a rally speaker called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”
The apparently racist comment sparked outrage among prominent Puerto Ricans and many others in media and entertainment.
“Right now there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and podcaster who was one of several speakers before Trump took the stage at the famous concert arena Sunday night.