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Trevor Noah calls on fans of J. Lo and ‘Hamilton’ to pay back Puerto Rico

You too, 'Despacito' fans.

 

Christine Friar

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Posted on Sep 29, 2017   Updated on May 22, 2021, 3:50 pm CDT

The entire island of Puerto Rico is without electricity, running water, and gas for the foreseeable future, and is facing the aftermath of Hurricane Maria with limited acknowledgment from the U.S. (despite being a U.S. territory). So Daily Show host Trevor Noah has a simple suggestion to help boost relief: Everyone who has watched the “Despacito” YouTube video, enjoyed the music of Hamilton, or fantasized about Jennifer Lopez at some point in their life should each donate $1.

Why? Because Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and JLo are all of Puerto Rican descent, so if we’ve enjoyed their art, Noah thinks it’s only fair we return the goodwill. “Despacito” alone has 3.8 billion views at the time of this writing—that’s a lot of potential donors to call on.

Noah cited a news report about “donation fatigue” as a problem he knew a bunch of Americans were probably dealing with after hurricanes Harvey and Irma shook the southern United States.

“I know it feels like there’s a new hurricane every week,” he said. “But the truth is everyone still needs to help. And it’s no excuse—that we get fatigued—for letting Puerto Rico fall through the cracks.”

At the end of the clip he threw up links to the International Medical Corps and Unicef and invited viewers to give what they could.

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*First Published: Sep 29, 2017, 10:46 am CDT