American rapper Flo Rida‘s partnership with energy drink brand Celsius has hit its boiling point.
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The artist behind 2007 breakout single “Low” will take the company to court in January, alleging he’s owed tens of thousands of dollars — and even more in stock options, Insider reported.
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In a lawsuit filed in 2021 in Broward County, Florida, Flo Rida’s legal team, which seeks at least $30,000 in damages, says the rapper’s 2014 and 2016 endorsement deals with Celsius lacked clarity and caused their client to lose out on promised bonuses and stock options.
Flo Rida helped cast the spotlight on Celsius by featuring the drink in his music video for the track “Hola” in 2017, and, in a 2019 interview, rapper Doja Cat referred to the product as “Flo Rida’s energy drink.”
“[Flo Rida is] 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,” Flo Rida’s lawyer John Uustal told Insider.
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As of August 2022, Celsius had a market value of $7.45 billion following PepsiCo‘s announcement of a $550 million investment in the brand, per CNBC.
Celsius Holdings, Inc. is up more than 63% year over year.
