Donald Trump adopts 'Spanish' accent to pronounce Puerto Rico

Donald Trump has hit the headlines again after pronouncing Puerto Rico in an exaggerated Spanish accent at a Hispanic Heritage Month event.

The US president told the crowd at the event: “We are also praying for the people of Puerto Rico. We love Puerto Rico.”

He then repeated “Puerto Rico”, before switching to his usual accent to laughingly add: “And we also love Puerto Rico”.

The comments sparked anger among many who saw them as the latest in a series of apparently disrespectful behaviour towards the people of Puerto Rico.

MORE: ‘Genetically altered’ muscular pigs are spotted in disturbing farm video
MORE: ‘Real’ risk of future US, China conflict, warns global think tank

One Twitter user asked what would happen if the US President had adopted the same approach in addressing the people of Las Vegas – still reeling from the massacre by gunman Stephen Paddock – saying: “Can you imagine if he repeated “Las Vegas” three times with a fucking goofy-ass cartoon Western accent? WAKE UP PEOPLE!”

Many also noticed the reaction of Mr Trump’s wife Melania, who was filmed at his side during the comments, initially smiling then adopting what some termed a blank expression.

Some suggested the First Lady did not really understand what was going on, taking her cues from those around her, while others made more humorous comparisons.

The comments come after Mr Trump fell under fire during a visit to the US territory earlier this week where he joked that recovery costs after Hurricane Maria had thrown his budget ‘out of whack’ and compared the devastation to a “real catastrophe” like 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.