Arts & Entertainment
Frank Ocean defeats his father’s ‘gay slur’ $14.5 million libel suit
a California judge says Calvin Cooksey did not have sufficient evidence
Frank Ocean came out victorious in the $14.5 million libel suit filed against him by his father, according to Pitchfork.
A California federal judge ruled that Ocean’s estranged father, Calvin Cooksey, hadn’t provided sufficient evidence that he had been defamed by Ocean’s 2016 Tumblr post.
Ocean wrote the post in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting in which he recounted a childhood memory at a restaurant involving his father.
“I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a fa*got as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty,” Ocean writes. “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 filed the libel suit in February claiming that the post put him “in the middle of a terrorist attack on the gay community,” and “ruined future financial opportunities in the film and music industries.” He also called Ocean’s post a “publicity stunt in the wake of the Orlando attack.”
Ocean’s attorney Keith Bremer released a statement to TMZ saying “It was a sad case, but we are glad that it ended in Frank’s favor and that it is over.”
The 2024 New York City Pride Parade wound through the streets of Manhattan and past the historic Stonewall Inn on Sunday, June 30.
(Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)
The fourth annual Fredericksburg Pride march and festival was held at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg, Va. on Saturday, June 29. The event began with a march around downtown Fredericksburg beginning and ending in the park.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Fredericksburg Pride for @WashBlade . City Council member @WillMackintosh speaking: pic.twitter.com/tDdVD2IVsM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) June 29, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Goodwin Living Pride
Senior living and healthcare organization holds fourth annual march at Falls Church campus
The senior living and healthcare organization Goodwin Living held its fourth annual community Pride march around its Bailey’s Crossroads campus in Falls Church, Va. with residents, friends and supporters on Tuesday, June 25. Following the march, a drag brunch was held with performances by drag artists of SADBrunch: Crimsyn, Sapphire Dupree and Evon Dior Michelle.
(Photos courtesy of Goodwin Living)
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