Rapper Pitbull released his $1 million contract with Florida's tourism marketing agency two days after the House speaker sued to find out details of the agreement.
Pitbull used Twitter to make the contract public on Thursday. He tweeted "*FULL DISCLOSURE – FLORIDA*" with a link to the 11-page agreement.
The rapper agreed to produce a video for the song "Sexy Beaches" for Visit Florida and to promote the hashtag #LOVEFL on his social media sites and during concerts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUQ3kfxEaQ
But Visit Florida kept the payment to Pitbull secret and refused to release the contract. House Speaker Richard Corcoran this week sued to have the details disclosed, saying taxpayers should now how the agency paid the rapper, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez.
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran released this statement about the contract:
“It is unfortunate that it took litigation to lift the veil of secrecy on this particular contract. This was a long unnecessary journey through claims of trade secrets, threats of prosecution, and corporate welfare paid for by taxpayers. The people’s House will not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal to protect the taxpayer and ensure transparency is the rule and not the exception in state government. It is my hope that the coverage this issue received will foster a larger discussion of the proper role of government in the free market and the need to end the idea that government as ‘venture capitalist’ is good for our economy.”
