Flo Rida is reportedly taking popular drink company Celsius to court.
According to Insider, the rapper, born Tramar Dillard, filed his initial lawsuit against Celsius in 2021, citing that they breached their 2014 contract.
The Lawsuit
His legal team alleges that from 2014 to 2016, the company didn’t keep its end of the deal to pay the rapper bonuses or stock options despite claims of contributing to Celsius’ growth and sales.
Flo Rida's Influence
The influence in question includes Flo Rida’s promotion of the energy drink in the music video for “Hola” where a group of young people is seen drinking “Celsus Heat.”
Another instance that Insider points out is when fellow musician Doja Cat promoted the “Low” emcee’s Celsius deal after revealing that the drink made her “so hyper.”
“I’m advertising Flo Rida’s energy drink right now,” Doja Cat told DJ Big Boy. “I had this thing called Celsius, it’s like 250 milligrams of caffeine, so I drank it and man, I’ve never been that hyper in my entire life.”
The Profits
Furthermore, the outlet reports that since being traded for $1 per share in 2014, Celsius’ share price increased to $100, with products expanding to Vitamin Shoppes, GNCs, and 7-Elevens across the nation.
Additionally, in 2021, The Miami New Times estimated that the energy drink company managed to bring in $130 million in sales revenue.
“He’s entitled to 500,000 shares of stock via the contract, and entitled to 250,000 shares of stock if certain things happen — one of those yardsticks is that a certain number of units of products need to be sold, but unfortunately the contract doesn’t specify which type of unit — is it a box, is it a drink? And there’s no timeframe or deadline,” said Flo Rida’s lawyer, John Uustal, in an interview with the outlet.
The Deal
At this time, Flo Rida’s team is seeking a minimum of $30,000 in damages. The suit filed is on counts of breach of contract, accounting, and unjust enrichment.
“In Flo’s mind this was always a Vitamin Water type of deal, he was signing on to 1% of the company of a multi-million dollar endorsement deal and was hardly getting paid anything for it,” said Uustal.
Continued Support
Even though he’s heading to court against the company on Jan. 10, Flo Rida’s lawyer confirmed that the entertainer continued to drink the products in late 2022.
Between September and November 2022, he used his social media platform to continue spreading the news about the “Celsius Heat” line.
Show me how fit y’all been living by sending me any pics, videos, interviews, articles, podcasts, social media posts,
with me drinking Celsius or us showing Celsius love.Post your pics, tweets, concert videos etc in the comments 💪🏾🔥 pic.twitter.com/dbR3uWL6Ae
— FLO RIDA (@official_flo) November 1, 2022
“He’s still in his mind a good partner, and he’s sad that they’re not,” Uustal said. “This has always been a moral issue for him.”