Frank Ocean, the singer-songwriter that gained repute in 2011 with his hit single Novacane, has recently been sued by his own father for libel, defamation, sinning, and more. The lawsuit stems from a Tumblr blog post that Ocean published as a reaction to the Pulse Nightclub shooting that took place on June 12, 2016. Ocean, who identifies as gay, was shaken by the shooting at the nightclub, which was a popular spot for the gay community, and published his thoughts on the tragedy on Tumblr. Through the lawsuit, he is seeking $ 14.5 million.
In the Tumblr post, Ocean recalls the first time he heard the use of the pejorative f-word used to demean homosexuals. Allegedly, Ocean was with his father at a diner, when his father used the word to describe a transgendered waitress. Then, Ocean and his father left, and Ocean recalled that his father said the waitress was dirty. Additionally, Ocean remarked in that same post that the same day his father did that, was the same day his father left him. Previously, in a New York Times profile, Ocean refused to say anything about his father other than that he left when Ocean was 6, and that he was a failed musician who “went crazy.”
Respect Thy Father
Ocean’s father vehemently disputes the events as Ocean remembered them in his Tumblr post, and the lawsuit does not shy away from casting stones at Ocean. In the actual court complaint, Ocean’s father calls his son a hypocrite and a scam artist. Additionally, he claims that Ocean was not only lying about the diner incident, but that he was using and exploiting the Pulse Nightclub tragedy in an attempt to sell records.
Ocean’s father further goes on to apologize for his son’s sins in the court complaint, including the sins of lying, adultery, lust, stealing, murder, sex out of wedlock, and, not surprisingly, disrespecting his father.
The lawsuit explains that Ocean was aware that his father had written a crime thriller movie manuscript that he intended to star in with Ocean’s mother. However, the lawsuit further alleges that the Tumblr post was intended to prevent him from being able to get a deal to produce the movie.
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