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Visit Florida CEO resigns following $1 million Pitbull deal controversy

By | Published on Monday 19 December 2016

Pitbull

The head of Florida’s tourism board, Will Seccombe, has resigned after it emerged that he paid Pitbull $1 million to be a “celebrity ambassador” for the state.

Controversy erupted around the deal after the Florida state government sued to have details of the secret agreement between the popstar and Visit Florida released last week. Pitbull’s lawyers argued that the contract should be kept under wraps, due to trade secret concerns. However, on Thursday, the rapper himself undid all of that by posting the full contract on Twitter.

In a statement, Pitbull said: “It’s been an honour to represent Miami and the Sunshine State. I’ve taken Miami and Florida worldwide – WAY before any contract, and will continue to do so after”. Yes, who had ever heard of Florida outside the US before Pitbull came along? No one, that’s who.

Among the commitments in the one year deal, signed in August last year, Pitbull agreed to perform a New Year’s Eve show in Miami with a live broadcast on the Fox Network, to make a video for his song ‘Sexy Beaches’ which prominently featured Florida’s (presumably sexy) beaches, and to display the “#LoveFL” hashtag on screens at his live shows during the term of the agreement.

Following the release of the contract, Florida Governor Rick Scott wrote to Visit Florida chair William D Talbert III calling on Seccombe to resign in a bid to improve transparency at the publicly funded agency.

“I believe it would be best for the future efforts of Visit Florida for Will to step down and allow new leadership to come in at this critical time”, wrote Scott on Friday.

It was later confirmed that Seccombe had agreed to stand down and “will be working with the Visit Florida board of directors on next steps” over the next few weeks, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Visit Florida’s Chief Operating Officer Vangie Fields and Chief Marketing Officer Paul Phipps also resigned on Friday.



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