Singer Rihanna criticized President Donald Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact on Puerto Rico in a tweet on Thursday.
Hurricane Maria slammed into the island with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, bringing with it torrential rains and catastrophic wind gusts. The storm knocked out the country’s power grid and left millions of people without potable water.
Rihanna on Thursday shared an image with the president of the New York Daily News’s Sept. 27 front page which read, “No food, no water, no power, no medical care for the dying … Puerto Rico needs more help, Mr. President!” over the words “American tragedy.”
“Dear @realDonaldTrump I know you've probably already seen this, but I just wanted to make sure!” Rihanna, who is from Barbados, wrote Thursday. “Don't let your people die like this.”
Rihanna is the latest celebrity to urge Trump to do more in response to the storm, along with “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, rapper Pitbull and actress Jennifer Lopez.
A few hours after posting her message to Trump, Rihanna called for a “round of applause” for efforts to aid Puerto Rico from former presidents George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Government officials are also being criticized by Puerto Rican authorities after acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke declared that the federal response to the damage on the island is a “good news story.”
"When you don't have food for a baby, it's not a good news story," Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told CNN on Friday. "Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people-are-dying story."
Recovery efforts in Puerto Rico are ongoing.
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