In 1999, the UN made November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Since then, statistics have only grown more alarming with national studies showing that up to 70% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. On Monday, several men – namely Residente and Rocky the Kid – shared their thoughts on the matter. At the end of the day, somehow the conversation pivoted to center themselves rather than the issue at hand, because of course.
According to Primera Hora, radio and television personalities Rocky the Kid and Ivan Colon (known as El Giga,) the hosts of “El Despelote,” took a moment out of regularly scheduled programming to recognize the day. Angelique “Burbu” Burgos asked the men if they understood the meaning of the symbolic purple used in the feminist movement. The men agreed that it must be reflective of the color of the bruising caused by domestic violence. That grotesque assumption is incorrect. In fact, the color represents justice and equality, as it’s the result of the mixture of pink and blue.
After the conversation spread, and evolved – as all messaging does in a game of telephone – several people, including Mela Pabón, my favorite Instagram astrologer and sister to urbano artist Rafa Pabón, weighed in with justified disgust. She called Rocky a “charlatán” via a now-deleted tweet and asked astrology followers to conspire so that he’d be off media. Hours later, she’d realize it was not Rocky the Kid but El Giga who first uttered the comment. She deleted her tweet and clarified, “We are in critical moments in terms of gender violence in Puerto Rico, and these are delicate subject matters. I will always denounce machismo… but it’s also necessary to have dialogue in order to understand. Therefore, I apologize.”
Residente piggy-backed off her initial comments though, and somewhere someone is sending him Mela’s comments with a visual of Drake’s “If you’re reading this it’s too late.” The Puerto Rican rapper took to IGTV to season a new batch of beef. How he has space in the freezer for more? No se, pero although his caption read “my message is clear, we do not want more violence done by men to women,” most of his almost 4-minute video focuses on everything but. This includes, but is not limited to, defending Mela, threatening to color Rocky the Kid’s face with bofetadas, demand his removal from SBS, and *checks notes* a short tangent on how he couldn’t care less about radio play because he’s gotten this far without it.
Rocky the Kid responded on Tuesday morning’s program with claims that Residente had not corroborated his story. He went as far as to call the “Cantalo” singer an impulsive and “even dangerous” person. “I challenge you [back],” he said. “Tú me vas a dar una bofetada, pero te vas a quedar sin nariz.”
How appropriate of these men to threaten physical violence given the context. Do they not have each other’s numbers? Emails? Is there no other means of communication in which this can be resolved or communicated? Beef is great, but might I suggest trying chicken or pernil?