Frank Ocean's Dad Hits Russell Simmons with $142 Million Lawsuit

Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images

R&B crooner Frank Ocean has been relatively quiet but his absentee father is causing a stir. According to TMZ, the singer’s dad, Calvin Cooksey, has slapped Russell Simmons with a whopping $142 million lawsuit.

Cooksey is suing the rap mogul and his pop culture website Global Grind for allegedly referring to him as a deadbeat dad in a news story. He claims that Ocean’s mother, Katonya Breaux Riley, has kept his son away from him throughout his childhood.

“He wasn’t allowed to be a father to Frank because his ‘Money Grubbing mother’ moved and hid the boy from him,” the lawsuit states.

Ocean’s father is angry that Simmons would publish a false story about him without checking the facts and never bothered to use his real name.

Cooksey, who describes himself as a singer, writer and inventor, claims that the article defame him and ruined his career. He is seeking loss of future income.

Attorneys for Russell Simmons had no comment on the matter.