Lawsuit aims to disclose how much state spent on Pitbull music video

December 13, 2016

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- One of Florida's legislative leaders is suing Pitbull's company to find out much the state of Florida paid the famous rapper.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against PDR Productions so legislators can publicly disclose contents of a contract that the state's tourism marketing organization signed with Pitbull.

Corcoran said the House has a right to hold those who spend taxpayer money "accountable" and that state spending should be transparent.

The Miami music star signed a deal with Visit Florida last year and as part of the deal released a video this past summer for the song "Sexy Beaches" that includes scenes from nearly two-dozen Florida beaches.

Pitbull's company declared that the contents of the contract-- including how much Pitbull got paid-- were trade secrets and were not subject to the state's public records law.

July 19, 2016

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- His nicknames include 'Mr. 305' and 'Mr. Worldwide' and one state agency believes rapper Pitbull can draw more people to the Florida. Now we're learning that the rapper recently got paid with state money for his new video… but exactly how much remains a secret.

Pitbull’s new song titled “Sexy Beaches,” is an ode to dozens of Florida’s beaches and scantily clad women. State tourism agency Visit Florida hopes it’s also a reason for more people to come to the sunshine state.

Pitbull is getting paid to attract visitors to Florida, we just don’t know how many taxpayer dollars he’s actually getting. The rapper inked a deal with Visit Florida last year. The agency receives around $80 million dollars in taxpayer funding, but the details of the contract are being kept secret, with Visit Florida citing they’d be revealing trade secrets.

Barbara Petersen with the First Amendment Foundation says that’s not fair to Floridians.

“Visit Florida is claiming that the amount of taxpayer dollars they’re paying Pitbull to promote the tourism interests of Florida is secret. This is our money…how do we know we are getting our money’s worth if we don’t know what he’s being paid?” she said.

But not everyone thought the video was a waste of money.

“I didn’t see anything negative in what you just showed me,” said taxpayer Osmond Johnson after we showed him the video.

The video is being distributed through the rapper’s social media accounts and already has more than one and a half million views on YouTube.

The "Sexy Beaches" music video can be viewed below:

July 18, 2016

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The new video from rapper Pitbull looks like a four-minute advertisement for Florida because that's exactly what it is.

Pitbull has a contract with the state's tourism agency. He just released a video for "Sexy Beaches" that includes scenes from nearly two-dozen Florida beaches.

Pitbull signed with Visit Florida last year. The agency receives $80 million in taxpayer funding but has asserted that contract details are trade secrets. So it's not clear how much Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez, is getting paid.

Visit Florida spokeswoman Kathy Torian said the video is being released first on the rap star's Vevo channel and will be distributed through his social media accounts. The video has already gotten more than 1 million views on YouTube.