Frank Ocean Responds to Father’s Libel Lawsuit

Earlier this year, Frank Ocean was sued by his father Calvin Cooksey for libel. The $14.5 million defamation lawsuit was filed in response to a note Ocean posted last summer on his Tumblr following the Orlando nightclub shooting. “I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a faggot as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty,” the note reads. In his lengthy complaint, Cooksey claimed that Ocean “published these falsehoods” “for the financial success of Defendant’s new album Blonde, and to ruin his father.” At one point, he also referred to Ocean’s association with “devil worshiper” Tyler, the Creator. Today, Ocean and his lawyers responded to Cooksey’s lawsuit, TMZ reports. 

In his answer to the complaint, obtained by Pitchfork, Ocean said his essay “speaks for itself” and asserts that everything he wrote is true. He denied the majority of his father’s allegations, saying they’re “statements of opinion, and thus not the proper subjects of a libel claim.” The answer also argues that the complaint is barred by applicable statutes of limitations. Ocean is asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit and order Cooksey to cover all of Ocean’s legal fees.

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