By Canadian Press

Florida agency paid Pitbull $1M for ‘Sexy Beaches’ promotion

Dec 15, 2016 | 9:45 AM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Rapper Pitbull released his $1 million contract with Florida’s tourism marketing agency via Twitter Thursday, two days after the House speaker sued to find out details of the agreement that included the production of a video for the song “Sexy Beaches.”

Pitbull tweeted “(asterisk)FULL DISCLOSURE – FLORIDA(asterisk)” with a link to the 11-page agreement to produce the “Sexy Beaches” video for Visit Florida and to promote the hashtag #LOVEFL on his social media sites and during concerts.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an attempt to have details of the contract disclosed. Visit Florida refused to say how much it paid the rapper, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez, or details of the arrangement, saying it was a trade secret.

Corcoran found that unacceptable, saying taxpayers should now how Visit Florida was spending its money.

“It is unfortunate that it took litigation to lift the veil of secrecy on this particular contract,” Corcoran said in a statement released by his office. “This was a long unnecessary journey through claims of trade secrets, threats of prosecution, and corporate welfare paid for by taxpayers.”

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A lawyer for Pitbull let the tweet speak for itself.

“There will be no further comment from the Pitbull camp,” Leslie Jose Zigel said in an email.

Visit Florida didn’t immediately return an email and a phone call seeking comment.

The video features images of women frolicking in the surf and sand as well as pictures of iconic Florida hotels such as Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau and the pink Don CeSar Hotel in St. Pete Beach. It ends with an image of #LOVEFL written in the sand.

The song includes lyrics like, “I want to go somewhere exotic/Let the sun massage my body/Meet a sexy stranger in the lobby.”

The video has nearly 10.7 million views on YouTube.

___

AP writer Gary Fineout contributed to this report.

Follow Brendan Farrington on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bsfarrington

Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Florida agency paid Pitbull $1M for ‘Sexy Beaches’ promotion

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