A jury awarded Flo Rida a whopping $82.6 million (U.S.) on Wednesday after finding that an energy drink company breached its contract with the rapper.
“This was a long journey, but we prevailed,” the rapper told reporters outside the Broward County courthouse as he sipped from a can of Celsius, for which he was brand ambassador from 2014 to 2018. “From the start I only wanted what I worked for, nothing more, nothing less.
“I put them on my back and Celsius accompanied me all over the world, through my videos, concerts, appearance and social media.”
(Cans of Celsius Heat were prominently placed in the 2017 video for “Hola” by Flo Rida ft. Maluma, which has been viewed more than 136 million times.)
Flo Rida, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, sued Celsius Holdings Inc. in 2021 alleging that the Florida-based company violated the terms of an endorsement deal that promised him “bonus compensation, incentive compensation and royalties” – as well as stock when certain benchmarks were reached.
Celsius argued that those benchmarks were not reached and claimed its sales increased after the endorsement deal had ended.
The jury found in Flo Rida’s favour, deciding that Celsius owed him 250,000 shares from 2014 and 500,000 from 2016 as well as royalties on sparkling orange drinks dating back to 2018. (The shares are currently valued at more than $100 each.)
The company did not immediately indicate if it would appeal the verdict.