Frank Ocean has come out victorious in the libel lawsuit filed against him by his own father. According to Law360, a California judge ruled in the singer’s favor $14.5 million case, finding that his estranged dad, Edward Cooksey, had not defamed him in a 2016 Tumblr post.
In that blog, which he wrote in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Ocean recounted the time as a child when his father, “call[ed] our transgender waitress a f****t as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty.” Adding, “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.”
After the post went up, Cooksey alleged in a court-filing that his son, “damaged his financial opportunities in film and music” and that he is “a fraud and only cared about making millions of dollars through Defendant’s exclusive deal with Apple Inc.”
In a statement given to Pitchfork after the ruling came down, Ocean’s lawyers said that, “It was a super sad case. I am sorry that my client had to go through this and am glad that we could bring closure.”
