Frank Ocean responds to his father suing him for $14m

Calvin Cooksey is suing the singer for defamation

Frank Ocean has responded to his father’s recent libel lawsuit against him.

As previously reported, Calvin Cooksey is suing the singer for defamation and $14.5 million (£11.25 million) in damages in response to a note that Ocean posted last summer on his Tumblr in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting. In the statement Ocean 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 denied the accusation of homophobia in his complaint. He said that it has “ruined” his “future financial opportunities in the film and music industries.” He also accused Ocean of publishing “falsehoods” for “the financial success” of his recent album ‘Blonde’, further describing him as “a fraud [who] only cared about making millions of dollars”.

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Ocean’s father went on to call Ocean’s collaborator Tyler The Creator a “devil worshiper”, saying that the singer didn’t “include a homophobic bigot named Tyler the Creator” in his Tumblr post despite his “homophobic hateful rap lyrics”. Ocean was further described as a “hypocrite and fraud who dishonestly betrayed the LGBT fans base for Tyler the Creator, who has clearly demonstrated hate for the LGBT community”.

Ocean and his lawyers have now responded to the lawsuit, TMZ reports. In a filed response to the complaint, Ocean denies many of his father’s allegations, describing them as “statements of opinion, and thus not the proper subjects of a libel claim”. He also says that his Tumblr post “speaks for itself”. Ocean and his lawyers have called on the court to dismiss the lawsuit and for Cooksey to cover Ocean’s legal costs.

Ocean’s fractious relationship with his father has been well documented. In 2012 the singer said Cooksey wanted to sue him for $1 million.

Earlier this week, Ocean was forced a second festival date following “production delays”.

Ocean’s next scheduled live date is at Primavera Festival in Barcelona on June 2. It is not known whether this

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