Singer Mario said he was held at gunpoint by police officers in Miami — and the tense standoff was defused only when a female officer recognized him.
The Grammy-nominated “Let Me Love You” singer told Page Six that three months ago he was driving in Miami with a friend who has a license to carry a concealed gun, when his friend got into an argument with another man.
“[My friend] pulled out a gun and so did the other guy, so I got out to defuse the situation,” Mario told us, adding that his pal’s baby daughter was in the back seat at the time.
Mario, 33, said he managed to calm everyone down, and the other guy with the gun eventually left. “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,” he said.
But Mario didn’t realize someone having witnessed the altercation had called the police. “So I’m in the car; the gun’s right there,” he said, adding the child was still in the car.
“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.’ ” The officers told him not to move and to put his hands up. “So the cops say, ‘There’s a gun right there — why did you lie to me?’ ” Mario began to explain the situation, but “then this lady cop appeared and was like, ‘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.’”
He said, “From there, she told the guys to put their guns down.” He added, “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.”
His new single, “Rewrite It,” just dropped, and his album, “Closer to Mars,” will be released this summer.