As many Americans have already participated in early voting, many more are heading to the polls on November 3rd to cast their ballots, and Pitbull is opening up about why doing so is so important to him.
Mr. Worldwide was a recent guest on iHeartRadio's "Why I'm Voting" podcast, and during the episode, the superstar talked about his family's story, coming to America from Cuba, and why voting is not something to be taken for granted. Pitbull, real name Armando Christian Pérez, revealed that he registered to vote when he was in high school. He recalled:
"It was just something that you could sign up [for], and it was one of those things, and I happened to do [it]. Not too many kids really paid attention to that. But, the fact that my family comes and fled from communism in Cuba, and my grandmother was a revolutionary in Cuba, and my aunt was a political prisoner, my mother came over in Operation Peter Pan. And my father came over with ... basically what they do is they have a letter that they give over in Cuba, it's called The Lottery. What you win is the most priceless thing in the world, which is freedom. So, you leave everything behind. They only give you a couple minutes to pick up and go, and you get a chance to come over to the United States. So then, my father brought boats over in the Mariel boatlift in the early eighties and brought over 548 Cubans from Cuba to freedom. So, that's why I'm someone that honors, appreciates and loves freedom. And the only way you get that is by voting."
Listen to Pitbull's full "Why I'm Voting" episode on iHeartRadio.
"Why I'm Voting" features some the biggest stars, cultural influencers and athletes, sharing what matters to them most as the upcoming election approaches, and why it’s so important to show up to the ballot box. The podcast will run weekly through Election Day in November, and listeners will have the chance to talk about why they are voting, and can record and submit their own 20 second or less audio or video message at iHeartRadio.com/vote.
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