A Ferrari is a supercar par excellence, synonymous with power and style. No matter where you go, getting behind the wheel of a prancing horse from Maranello will turn heads. From world-class athletes to Hollywood stars, many of the world’s richest and most popular celebrities have made sure they own at least one Ferrari, and at the same time there are many who cannot.
Then the question arises of what it takes to be able to buy a Ferrari. Just drive up to the nearest dealer with sufficient bank balance? Interestingly, the answer is no, as it takes far more than fame and money to be able to drive home in a Ferrari. Ferrari as a car brand is known for being very picky when it comes to its customers’ choices. When your cars are produced in limited numbers and are highly sought after around the world, you can afford to be selective about who drives them.
Updated March 2023: Ferrari remains a prestigious and coveted brand in the automotive world. Especially if you already own a Ferrari, you need to adhere to certain standards and rules in order to stay on the company’s good books for future offerings. We’ve updated this list with more celebrities who didn’t meet these standards and were therefore banned from buying new Ferraris.
It’s not just about the money. A potential Ferrari customer is screened for their public image, their affiliation with the brand, their ability to maintain the car and keep it running well, and finally their ability to purchase more Ferrari models in the future.
As such, Ferrari has an infamous “black list” of celebrities who, despite their money and fame, are not allowed to buy their cars. Let’s take a look at some of the celebrities in the automotive world and pop culture who have been banned from buying their cars by Ferrari.
8th Tyga
According to TMZ, the popular tabloid, in 2016 Tyga leased a 2012 Rolls-Royce Ghost and a Ferrari 458 Spider of the same model year. However, before the lease on these cars ended, Tyga prematurely stopped his payments and so the cars were repossessed.
Additionally, the company reported that the rapper still owed them around $45,000 for the Ferrari and nearly double that for the Ghost. As a result, the company sued Tyga for the amount, including attorneys’ fees and interest. While these reports can very well be exaggerated, the bad publicity surrounding Ferrari’s name alone would mean the rapper would never be seen as an ideal candidate for Maranello.
7 Deadmau5
It’s pretty clear Ferrari has some high standards for customers and what they can do after they’ve driven out of the dealership, but they still don’t take extreme changes too kindly. When Canadian music producer Deadmau5 decided to deck their 458 Italia with a sky-blue vinyl in homage to the internet meme Nyan Cat, Ferrari just wasn’t happy.
Custom badges and floor mats compounded Deadmau5’s case, and his “Purrari,” as he called it, became the reason Ferrari served him a cease-and-desist letter to have custom badges removed, after which the musician removed the Purrari badges and returned the car to its original white color. It is clear that Deadmau5 will never put his name on Ferrari’s VIP list again.
6 Chris Harris
Well-known automotive journalist and critic Chris Harris wrote an article for Jalopnik in 2011 entitled “How Ferrari Spins”. In it, he claimed that the supercar brand from Italy optimized its test cars in a special way to ensure the best possible results in performance tests for magazines that are not symmetrical to mass-produced variants.
Of course, this accusation did not fit Ferrari at all, and they banned him from their list of journalists entitled to loan cars. Although Chris Harris has had a solid reputation among Ferrari enthusiasts through his online presence, there will almost always be a certainty that the company won’t be adding him to their list any time soon.
5 Justin Bieber
For Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber, it was not one but a series of offenses that landed him on Ferrari’s blacklist. First, the singer had his Ferrari 458 Italia F1 Edition customized by West Coast Customs. Originally white, he had it wrapped in an electric blue color, and his greatest sacrilege was manipulating the Prancing Horse logo as well.
While that would most likely have been enough to anger Ferrari, Justin also reportedly lost his Ferrari for three weeks after a drunk night in Los Angeles. It took his assistant a full three weeks to locate the car, and coupled with his blatant disregard for Ferrari’s customization limits, it was only natural that he ended up on their blacklist, despite his celebrity status. He obviously has a thing for customizing the hell of prestigious luxury cars.
4 50 cents
Ferrari cares a lot about its brand image around the world. So when a popular rapper with a huge platform took to social media to berate his car, Ferrari wasn’t too keen on it, of course. Rapper 50 Cent’s Ferrari 488 had problems with a dead battery. As a result, he had to have the car towed and then complained about the car on Instagram.
50 Cent even went so far as to call the car a “lemon,” which obviously marked the turning point if the deal wasn’t already sealed. This incident was more than enough to ensure that 50 Cent will not find himself behind the wheel of a new Ferrari to call his own.
3 Kim Kardashian
This one is more in the rumor realm, but it’s almost a well-known fact that popular American socialite Kim Kardashian has been on Ferrari’s blacklist for a number of years. The most likely reason for this ban is that in 2011 she accepted a Ferrari as a wedding gift from a Malaysian businessman who also happened to be a financial scammer.
While Kim denied ever receiving the car, RadarOnline reported that a source said the car was delivered to the Kardashian household. Kim Kardashian’s Ferrari ban would always be vague, as Ferrari would refrain from publicly commenting on the issue, and Kim herself wouldn’t be too keen on announcing that a car company has banned her forever. However, what Ferrari clearly ensured was that Kim definitely could not buy exclusive or special edition models.
2 Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the richest boxer of all time and also one of the richest athletes. So you’d think Ferrari would be all too happy to sell him their cars, but he’s reportedly on the infamous blacklist despite his vast wealth.
This is largely due to his tendency to flout Ferrari’s ownership rules, which make an owner keep the car for at least over a year before even thinking about selling it. Floyd, on the other hand, is notorious for buying flashy new cars and selling them after just a few months of ownership when he’s done showing them off. He’s not exactly known as a ‘car collector’ and as such the megastar is unworthy of Ferrari.
1 Nicholas cage
Nicolas Cage has arguably had all sorts of hits in an acting career. At this point, he’s probably even bored, as he recently revealed a shocking new career move away from acting. Undoubtedly, Cage enjoyed great financial success during his long years as an actor, eventually becoming the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, according to Forbes.
However, due to an unchecked spate of acquisitions, Cage ran into tax problems with the government and as a result had to sell most of his properties to pay off his debts. Cage had a Ferrari Enzo, a rare and extremely valuable sports car, in his fleet and decided to put the car up for sale to pay off his huge debt. As a result, Cage sold the exotic car well below its actual value. Ferrari executives were not happy with such a decision, saying it would devalue their brand. So they banned Mr. Cage from buying another Ferrari.
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