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Artist News Legal
Frank Ocean sued for $14 million by his father
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 6 February 2017
Frank Ocean is being sued by his father Calvin Cooksey for defamation, demanding $14 million in damages, over a claim that he used a homophobic slur in the early 90s.
In the wake of the attack on Orlando’s Pulse nightclub last year, Ocean wrote a post on Tumblr, in which he said: “I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a faggot as he dragged me out a neighbourhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty. 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”.
Cooksey denies that this incident ever took place, accusing his son of staging a “publicity stunt in the wake of the Orlando attack … [and] us[ing] his father as an instrument for personal connection in order to sell records”.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Cooksey said: “I have never discriminated against anyone transgender or heterosexual or homosexual. The events that [the] defendant describes on 21 Jun 2016, that I called a transgender waitress FAGGOT, NEVER HAPPENED … The defendant is a scam artist, a fraud and a hypocrite who deceive[d] the LGBT community on 21 Jun 2016 for the financial success of [Ocean’s album] ‘Blonde'”.
Back in 2014, Cooksey attempted to sue Russell Simmons for defamation, then demanding $142 million, after the Def Jam co-founder referred to him as a “deadbeat dad” in an interview. That case was thrown out before reaching court.
