Now that President Trump is making inroads with Latino and Black American voters, celebrities are sounding the alarm.
Speaking with the Variety iHeart podcast “The Big Ticket,” singer Ricky Martin said that Latinos will help Joe Biden win in the election next week while expressing concern about the Latinos who support President Trump.
“I’ve been supporting Biden forever,” the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer told the outlet. “I think he is the only option we have and he is great and he has been in politics all his life. This is the moment. We all need to get together and be loud about the course of this nation.”
Martin noted that as a man of intersectionalities, he understands the harm of “Trump’s America.”
“I am a Latino, gay [and] married to an Arab living in Trump’s America,” he said. “We check all the boxes.”
The prospect of Latinos voting for Trump, however, Martin said was “super sad” and “really scary.”
“It is super sad,” he said. “Trumpeters make a lot of noise. And it’s scary to see their enthusiasm but us, we’re doing what’s right, the right way and we’ll see what happens in November. I’m very optimistic.”
A native of Puerto Rico, Martin dismissed Gov. Wanda Vazquez’s endorsement of the president earlier this month as something insignificant.
“Who is that? Next,” he said. “She doesn’t exist. She wasn’t even elected by the people. She’s not part of this conversation.”
“I think when you have 50 million people voting already, it’s because we are not the only ones concerned about this and for that I am extremely happy,” Martin concluded. “We just take it one day at a time and we’ve had plans like we might leave the country, but no. We have to stay here and we have to fight for our rights and what we believe.”
Earlier this month, actor John Leguizamo said that Latinos engage in “self-hate” when they vote Republican, likening it to “roaches for raid.”
“Latin people for Republicans are like roaches for Raid,” Leguizamo told Bill Maher. “I just feel like there’s a level of self-hate or just a lack of care of the rest of your Latin brothers and sisters who are in cages, who are being demonized by this President. I mean, hate crimes against Latin people are way up and how can you not — 23 people were shot in El Paso just for being Latin and you don’t care? So you are going to vote for this braggadocio president? I feel like it’s self-hating and selfish.”
Leguizamo went on to credit Republicans for being “clever” with their attacks on Biden by characterizing him as a socialist who will turn the United States into Venezuela.
“They are spreading this stuff that Biden is about to steal the Virgin Mary. First off, he’s a Super Catholic,” said Leguizamo. “And in Florida, they are going after Colombians telling them that if you vote for Biden he’s a socialist and he’s going to turn Columbia into Venezuela because they know we have 400,000 registered Colombians in Florida that could help flip it to Biden. They’re really clever, insidious but we are working, we’re going to figure them out.”
RELATED: John Leguizamo: Latinos For Republicans Are ‘Like Roaches For Raid’