Governor of Puerto Rico to Resign After Homophobic Controversy

The governor of Puerto Rico has finally resigned after a group chat in which he made numerous homophobic and misogynistic comments leaked to the media.

Protests demanding Ricardo Rosselló leave office have been going on in Puerto Rico for weeks  ever since the 889-page document leaked. The governor originally insisted he would remain in office, despite two other people involved in the chats resigning from their positions, but now that has changed.

“My only priority has been the transformation of our island and the well-being of our people,” Rosselló claimed in a Facebook Live video announcing his resignation. “The demands have been overwhelming and I’ve received them with the highest degree of humility.”

Messages sent by Rosselló and eventually made public include a wish that “our people” would “beat up that whore” in reference to former New York City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverto, and saying that PR’s chief fiscal officer’s desire to shoot San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz would be “doing [him] a grand favor.”

The group chat also said that Ricky Martin is “such a male chauvinist that he fucks men because women don’t measure up,” and made tasteless jokes about Puerto Ricans who died during Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Pressure to step down as governor previously resulted in Rosselló’s resignation as the leader of the New Progressive Party and a promise not to run for re-election.

However, that was not enough, and the tense protests caused the legislature to consider beginning impeachment proceedings against him. The process was to begin this afternoon if Rosselló failed to resign, which he finally announced that he would do late last night.

He will remain in office until August 2, at which point Secretary of Justice Wanda Vasquez will take over the office as governor of Puerto Rico.