In 2016, Def Jam-signed rapper Logic shot a music video for his song “Super Mario World” on board the oil tanker named the Mary A. Whalen. The sheer fact that this two-year-old video exists or where it was shot is hardly news, even in light of Logic’s head-turning performance on last night’s Grammy awards, except for the fact that an Indiewire report from the weekend contains allegations that the shoot may have been intentionally deceitful.
Shooting on board the tanker, like many other locations, would require a fee to film. But Logic got around this by claiming to be a high school student filming the video for a school project. This is not exactly a secret, as the video shows a Mario asking to film on the boat for a summer school project, but what many didn’t know is that this was to get around paying the nonprofit 5-10K dollars they normally would have been required to. After seeing the success of Logic, the organization PortSide that uses the money to aid hurricane recovery for the surrounding community after Sandy, is not too happy.
“I looked at Logic; he’s so scrawny, I mistook for him as high school student,” said Carolina Salguero, who operates the boat’s nonprofit. “I thought the videographer was his dad, graying hair at the temples, and his friend was dressed in the [beat-up] Super Mario costume – I was busy and trusted I was helping high school students.”
Once it was discovered who Logic was and that he was a successful rapper, Salguero reached out to see if he’d like to make a donation. One of Logic’s managers seemed confident that Def Jam could get her money in the new year. But as of yet, they have not received a penny of their modest $5K asking price.
Logic has not yet responded to the claims, while Salguero just wants this situation to resolve.
“I really just want to put this behind me,” said Salguero. “The way our Red Hook community got through Sandy was remaining positive and for whatever reason I just can’t shake — and I should, I know — how violated I continue to feel by this.”
You can watch the video for “Super Mario World” above.
