In February, Frank Ocean’s father Calvin Cooksey filed a defamation lawsuit against his son over an essay the singer wrote on his Tumblr account after the Orlando nightclub shooting.
In the letter, Ocean recalled a childhood moment during which his father used a derogatory term against a transgender woman. He wrote:
“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. 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.”
In his suit, Cooksey maintained that the story was untrue, but that it “damaged his financial opportunities in film and music” and asked for $14.5 million.
Now, Ocean has finally responded to the lawsuit. In documents that can be seen here, the singer answers his father’s complaint with several points.
Ocean “admits that he published an essay on his Tumblr account” and “that the essay speaks for itself.” The singer also “denies” his father’s “charges of libel.”
And when it comes to determining “the truth of the allegation” that his father “is not a homphobic bigot,” Ocean claims he “lacks sufficient knowledge or information to determine the truth of the allegation” and so he “therefore denies” it.
Ocean’s documents appear to “demand for jury trial.”
The singer also made headlines today upon cancelling yet another scheduled festival appearance.