Frank Ocean’s father, Calvin Cooksey, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the singer seeking $14.5 million in damages.
TMZ reports that Cooksey filed the lawsuit in response to a note that Ocean posted last summer on his Tumblr account after the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting that left 49 people dead.
“I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a f****t as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty,” the note reads. It continues, “That was the last afternoon I saw my father and the first time I heard that word, I think, although it wouldn’t shock me if it wasn’t.”
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According to Cooksey, the story is untrue and has “damaged his financial opportunities in film and music.”
In 2012 Ocean said Cooksey wanted to sue him for $1 million. He took to Twitter at the time to write:
Father wanna sue me for a million. Like I owe him back child support. Weak individual bought me a swiss knife at 6yrs old then dipped on me.
The tweet has since been deleted but the Channel Orange singer also previously tweeted, “Just found out my absent father’s been cyberstalking me, hi dad.”
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In 2014, Cooksey sued Russell Simmons for claiming he was a deadbeat dad on Simmon’s website, Global Grind. That lawsuit was for $142 million.
In his lawsuit, Cooksey claims he wasn’t allowed to be a father to Ocean because his “Money Grubbing mother” moved and hid the child from him. A judge dismissed the case in September 2016 because it was past the statute of limitations, despite Cooksey claiming he didn’t know about the filing time frame.
Ocean uses his Tumblr account to communicate with fans about issues he is passionate about. He recently spoke out about U.S. President Donald Trump in a post after the inauguration. Ocean labelled Trump’s inauguration event “dry” saying, “I’m really excited for the inauguration crowd numbers to come in. Don’t cook the books either, Donald. We all know your event was dry.”
The R&B singer also said, “The majority sees Donald for who he is too. He ain’t slick.”
You can read Ocean’s full Tumblr post here.
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