Frank Ocean was certainly feeling the heat this past week when it was revealed that food giant Chipotle was suing the singer after he backed out of $425,000 deal to sing a remake of “Pure Imagination” for an ad. After a brief public spat, Ocean settled the matter once and for all with an offensive check to Chipotle.
The trouble all began when Chipotle commissioned Ocean to sing a remake of “Pure Imagination” for their animated “scarecrow” marketing campaign to promote local and sustainable farming.
Chipotle paid Ocean $212,500 after signing onto the campaign in July 2013, with another $212,500 to be paid after he delivered the song. However, Ocean backed out of the deal on the day the song was due, with his lawyers saying that he was unaware of the Chipotle branding that would appear in the ad.
Chipotle claims that they were upfront with Ocean about how the ad would look and they sued him for initial $212,500 plus any additional damages that would be determined at trial.
This past weekend, Ocean alluded to the legal battle when he posted the Wikipedia definition of “defamation” on his Tumblr page. And yesterday, Ocean attempted to settle the score once and for all when he posted a photo of the cashier’s check for the $212K with a memo that reads “f— off.”
Well, that’s definitely one way to squash a beef. Although, we’re sure other companies will now think twice about working with Ocean. – nicholas robinson
