A commemoration of the rapper’s brief arrest in Miami Beach, the shirt reinforced the idea that for some celebrities, a brush with the law can be good for business.
After a night of partying in South Florida, the superstar rapper Travis Scott ended his Thursday with two more charges on his record and one more product on his website than he started with.
An established swag king who’s no stranger to brand deals, Mr. Scott, 33, turned a spotlight on what many would consider an embarrassing moment when he started selling T-shirts featuring his mug shot, just hours after his arrest in Miami Beach. The new merchandise reinforced the idea that for certain celebrities and politicians, brushes with the law can be easily recast as lucrative business opportunities.
The rapper made headlines after the police responded shortly before 2 a.m. on Thursday to reports of a fight aboard a yacht docked at a marina. Mr. Scott was charged with trespassing and disorderly intoxication and then released on bond after paying a total of $650 on both charges, according to local news outlets.
Mr. Scott, whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, later admitted he had been drinking alcohol. “It’s Miami,” he was quoted as saying in the police report.
That same phrase, along with his mug shot — altered from the much more stoic original to include a broad, movie-star smile — had landed by day’s end on a dark T-shirt selling for $35 on his website.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
