Now Playing
Raymond Hall/GC ImagesFrank Ocean is denying that he libeled his father in a post that recalled his dad making a homophobic statement when he was a child.
Ocean’s father, Calvin Cooksey, sued him in 2016 for writing on Tumblr: “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,”
Ocean, who’s gay, responded by writing that his post “speaks for itself,” and “are statements of opinion, and thus not the proper subjects of a libel claim,” according to a copy of Ocean’s legal response obtained by Pitchfork, in which he asks the court to dismiss his father’s suit. He’s also requesting Cooksey pay his legal fees.
Cooksey is suing his son for $14.5 million, claiming Ocean “published these falsehoods for the financial success of defendant’s new album Blonde, and to ruin his father.”
While Ocean was responding to his father’s lawsuit, Billboard reports he also announced he’s canceled his headlining performance at the Hangout Festival, which is scheduled to take place May 19-21 in Gulf Shores, Alabama for “production issues beyond his control.”
Last week, Ocean cited the same reason for canceling his set at the Sasquatch Festival in George, Washington, scheduled for Memorial Day weekend.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
