Governor Rick Scott on Friday called for Visit Florida’s CEO to resign following revelations the agency paid Miami rapper Pitbull $1 million to promote tourism.
Visit Florida President and CEO Will Seccombe later agreed to resign.
- Visit Florida CEO Will Seccombe agreed to resign
- The tourism marketing agency faced backlash over its $1 million contract with Pitbull
- PREVIOUS: Visit Florida paid Pitbull $1 million to promote tourism
In a letter to Visit Florida Chairman William Talbert, Scott wrote, “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.”
Two executives with Visit Florida, chief financial officer Vangie Fields and chief marketing officer Paul Phipps were fired, according to an agency spokesperson.
The tourism marketing agency faced growing backlash over its contract with Pitbull.
The rapper posted the 2015 contract on Twitter on Thursday, revealing he was paid $1 million of taxpayer money to promote the state on social media and in a music video titled “Sexy Beaches.”
Earlier in the week, House Speaker Richard Corcoran filed a lawsuit in Leon Circuit Court against PDR Productions to disclose details of the contract.
Scott’s letter also outlined several measures to increase transparency. However, the governor remained supportive of Visit Florida.
“Visit Florida and its work to advertise our state supports our tourism industry, which is made up of hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs all across our state,” Scott wrote. “Anyone who disputes that fact or argues for no longer using Visit Florida’s advertising to promote tourism here simply does not understand the business world or the nature of our economy.”
Seccombe joined Visit Florida in 2008, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce website. He became CEO in 2012.
Visit Florida’s next board meeting will be held Jan. 9.