WASHINGTON, February 2nd (Sputnik) — He’s the man behind such songs as “Culo,” “She’s Freaky”, and the ever-poignant “Get on the Floor.”
Floridian Latino Republicans are making passes at the Cuban-American performer, whose real name is Armando Perez, to join the party and support its candidates.
Perez introduced President Barack Obama at a 2012 campaign stop in his home state of Florida.
Despite the fact that “Mr. 305” has shown support to the president, Republicans believe it to be in his best interest to switch sides.
“I saw Armando at a party in Miami the other night and immediately started selling him on Jeb,” GOP strategist Anna Navarro told BuzzFeed. “It’d be professional negligence not to. Armando is Mr. 305 and well, that’s Jeb’s area code, too.”
Though the sudden interest in the rapper seems… odd to say the least, many prominent Florida Republicans do seem to love Pitbull.
Florida Governor Rick Scott and Miami Mayor Tomas Regaldo recently gave him the key to the city and appointed him “Ambassador of the Arts.” Regaldo went as far as declaring Pitbull’s birthday, January 15, “Pitbull Day.”
Republican Florida State Senator, Anitere Flores recently gave an honorary degree to the Miami-born rapper from the unaccredited Doral College, where she also serves as president.
“Who wouldn’t want Pitbull?” she said. “He can’t just get us votes in the 305, he can get us votes worldwide.”
“¡Dale! The Republican Party’s doors are always open,” said Ali Pardo, a Cuban-American RNC spokesperson from Miami.
“Pitbull is well-liked, hugely respected. I see him as policy-oriented. He’s an entrepreneur who cares enormously about education and is an active advocate of school choice,” Navarro said.
“He frequently shows up in schools and gives students motivational and aspirational speeches. I don’t see him as a partisan but as a guy who is grateful for the opportunities this country has given him, and as someone who wants to give back every way he can.”
Democrats too have showered “Mr. Worldwide” with praise.
“I think the Florida Democratic Party and Democratic Party nationwide, we’re the big tent party, we’re the worldwide party,” Max Steele of the Florida Democrats told BuzzFeed. “The RNC is welcome to put all their eggs in a celebrity-recruitment basket, we wish them luck. But the Democratic message on everything from comprehensive immigration reform to expanding Medicaid, those issues resonate across the board more than a single celebrity endorsement.”
“Pitbull, a Latino icon, siding with anti-immigrants? Sorry, I simply can’t picture that with a Kodak,” said a Democratic congressional aide for a Latino member.
When Buzzfeed reached out to Pitbull for comment, he replied “I’m not here to be part of any political party.”
“I’m here to bring political parties to my party because they can’t, they won’t they never will, stop the Pitbull party, Dale!”
