Frank Ocean’s father, Calvin Cooksey, is suing hip-hop magnate Russell Simmons for describing him as a bad father on his website, Global Grind. Cooksey is requesting $142 million in damages, specifically over Simmons’ “deadbeat dad” remark. His son, however, feels the negative portrayal is accurate.
“Weak individual bought me a Swiss knife at 6yrs old then dipped on me,” Frank Ocean tweeted back in 2012, when there was talk of Cooksey suing him for “owing back child support.” The singer has spoken out about his father’s neglect on several occasions. “Just found out my absent father’s been cyberstalking me, hi dad,” he writes in another tweet. Ocean has also described their lacking relationship in some of his music, such as the song “There Will Be Tears.”
Lawsuits seem to be a family tradition for the bunch. Frank Ocean’s cousin, Sha’keir Duarte, sued Chris Brown for $2 million in August of 2013. Duarte was allegedly punched and kicked by one of the rapper’s bodyguards in a parking lot scuffle. Brown then countersued, stating that Duarte had provoked him. Frank Ocean was also involved in a lawsuit recently, but he kind of brought this one on himself. In March 2014, Chipotle Mexican Grill sued the hip-hop artist for the $212,500 they had paid in advance for his performance in a commercial, which he backed out of after seeing the final cut. His reason for ditching? He was angry that the Chipotle logo appeared at the end of the ad. Maybe irrationality is genetic.