Mario has revealed that he was held at gunpoint by cops in Miami three months back. In an interview with Page Six, the singer said that one of his friends got into an argument with another man and his friend — who is a licensed gun owner, brandished his weapon after the argument got heated. At the time, his friend's young daughter was in his car.
Mario explained, “[My friend] pulled out a gun and so did the other guy, so I got out to defuse the situation. My boy got in his car, he put his gun in the armrest, and then he went to this building to use the bathroom and left the gun."
Mario said that moments later, cops arrived and approached him. He said, “Two cops came up to the car with their guns drawn, shouting. I forgot about the gun that was in the armrest, [so] when they asked me if there were any guns in the car, I said, ‘No there’s no guns in the car.’”
He continued, “So the cops say, ‘There’s a gun right there — why did you lie to me?’” Mario said that the energy changed once the female cop recognized him. He said that the cops said to him “‘Wait, wait, wait. Aren’t you Mario?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ But I forgot about being Mario at this point. I’m just like, ‘Please don’t shoot me.’”
Mario added that from there, she told the other cops to "put their guns down."
He continued, “So yes, I’ve experienced racism, but I’ve also experienced privilege as an artist … As an artist I will say we do have privilege … Whether it is sports, entertainment, we see power in all these different spaces, but with that also comes privilege.”