Frank Ocean has responded to his legal issues with Chipotle by posting a check for $212,500 – the amount the fast food chain paid him for an ad campaign – to Tumblr with “F*ck off” written in the memo section. Check out the post here.
In July 2013, Ocean signed on to record a song for Chipotle for $425,000, with half paid up front. The singer said, via his a letter sent to Chipotle by his legal team, that he backed out because he felt misled about the intentions of the campaign: “When Frank was asked to participate in this project, Chipotle's representatives told him that the thrust of the campaign was to promote responsible farming. There was no Chipotle reference or logo in the initial presentation, and Chipotle told Frank that was an intentional element of the campaign,” the letter said.
Last week, Chipotle filed a lawsuit against Ocean for not delivering the song and taking a fee for the work. Though Ocean posted the cashier's check – signed under his legal name Christopher Breaux – a spokesperson for Chipotle told Rolling Stone today that the company has yet to receive the money: “If/when we get a check from Frank, we should be able to close the books on this. Right now, all we have is a photo online.”
Fiona Apple was eventually tapped for the project and recorded the song, a cover of 1971's “Pure Imagination” from the film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
Ocean is expected to release a follow-up to his 2012 debut album “Channel Orange” sometime this summer. In the meantime, listen to his new song “Hero,” a collaboration with Diplo and the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon.