TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ The rapper Pitbull received up to $1 million for his efforts to promote Florida as a tourist destination over the last year. The Miami rapper posted the contract to his Twitter account Thursday, more than a year after the Orlando Sentinel and other media outlets requested the details of the deal.
"It's been an honor to represent Miami and the Sunshine State. I've taken Miami and Florida worldwide _ WAY before any contract, and will do so way after. I love my home state. When asked to take on a New Year's show, I INSISTED it be live from Florida. #LoveFL since birth ... and til the day I die. Dale!" Pitbull posted in a Twitter message.
Pitbull inked the deal with Visit Florida, the state's tourism promotion agency, which announced it in September 2015. Under the terms of the deal, Pitbull was to send Twitter and social media messages with the #LoveFL moniker, participate in a marketing deal connected to his New Year's Eve celebration in Miami and promote Florida through one of his music videos. The video turned out to be a promotion of his 2014 single "Sexy Beaches" that featured women in skimpy bathing suits at Florida beachside hotels.
But when news outlets asked for the contract, nearly all of it was blacked out, including the amount he would be paid and even the name of his agency. Visit Florida lawyers said Pitbull's production company, PDR Productions, had declared nearly all of the contract a trade secret exempt from Florida's public records laws.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, filed suit against PDR Productions this week, saying the exemption doesn't apply and that lawmakers couldn't be shielded from inspecting the contract under their investigatory powers in the state constitution.
