Carmen Yulín Cruz during her 2019 gubernatorial campaign announcement
As the fallout continues from Luis Dávila Cólon being fired by Univision Communications for uttering the N-word on his now canceled WKAQ Radio show, supporters of the controversial talk show radio host and political analyst in Puerto Rico took a predictable partisan route by sharing a clip of San Juan mayor and gubernatorial candidate Carmen Yulín Cruz —a politician who has been a constant target of Dávila Colon’s— make a joke about COVID-19 and China.
In the six-second clip from a Pelota Dura interview this past week, Yulín Cruz is heard joking that she wouldn’t promote Puerto Rico because one can get the coronavirus in China.
Hi @CarmenYulinCruz, can you explain why you decide to joke about getting coronavirus from China? This is something someone like President Trump would say. Would love to know more about this moment? Gracias. https://t.co/2mJu3zdY9h
— Julio Ricardo Varela (@julito77) June 19, 2020
The joke sounded like something President Trump would say—the same Trump who Yulín Cruz has slammed for ignoring Puerto Rico.
The clip did make the rounds in social media with some of Dávila Colón’s supporters falsely equating Yulín Cruz’s China take to Dávila Colon’s use of the N-Word on air during a global movement for Black lives that is questioning white supremacy.
On Saturday, Yulín Cruz shared an apology.
“It was said without wanting to harm anybody but one needs to say that it can be offensive. If I hurt anybody by that, I apologize. My track record is clear,” Yulín Cruz told David Begnaud of CBS News.
San Juan’s mayor, who’s running for Governor, said she’d go anywhere promoting Puerto Rico except China b/c she’d get COVID19.
She now says: It was said w/out wanting to harm anybody but 1 needs to say: it can be offensive. If I hurt anybody I apologize; my track record is clear https://t.co/1B1QtnOrYE— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) June 20, 2020
Earlier this year, before his firing on Thursday, Dávila Colón was suspended by WKAQ after calling San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz a perra (“a female dog” or “b•tch.”)
This woman speaks with a fork tongue. So, watch out!
This is so #Fakenews.
[…] to share another example of the N-word being said on WAPA-TV and a clip of Yulín Cruz telling a joke about getting COVID-19 in China. Second, with no actual evidence, he and his supporters have continued to falsely accuse Latino […]