Frank Ocean Speaks on Early Release & Target Denies Homophobia
Since Frank Ocean’s heartfelt letter revealing his first love being a man, the singer’s lifestyle and career has been widely debated on the internet. People began speculating that Frank released his debut album, Channel Orange, via iTunes a week before it’s physical release to garner sales since confessing his admiration for the same sex. But those claims were denied by Def Jam representatives:
Def Jam president Joie Manda dismissed the claims, telling EW.com in an e-mail: “You have to understand that Frank’s letter last week was in NO WAY intended to impact the marketing of this record. Like all things with Frank, it was a carefully measured, very personal decision.”
He added that the label’s “plans remain the same: to support Frank Ocean’s creativity and artistry and allow him the freedom to continue building the very special relationship he’s cultivated with his fans.”
Frank called in to BBC Radio 1′s Zane Lowe Thursday evening to further refute the claims. He stated that it was the plan all along to drop it ahead of time like Watch The Throne to prevent it from leaking.
“It was actually the plan all along, I kind of wanted to mirror what Jay and Kanye did with Watch the Throne preventing the leak by staggering the digital and physical dates. My thing was, I wanted all the promotional elements to be….I don’t know if the word is retro-active, but kind of follow the album with the videos and the tour and do everything after. And kind of just let the music speak for itself for a second and not be in a situation where the record leaked. It was always my plan to drop it ahead of physical.”
With the allegations of Frank using his sexuality to promote his music, a new rumor arose involving Target. Channel Orange was supposed to debut on July 17th and since it was released exclusively a week early, Target refused to sell it within their stores. Many people claimed it was due to his sexuality, and even some of Frank’s team (like Kelly Clancy the manager of Odd Future) tweeted that was their reasoning.
Target has refused to carry Franks album because of Itunes exclusive. Interesting since they also donate to non equal rights organizations.
Target has finally come out to deny the accusations that they didn’t want to sell Channel Orange because they were homophobic.
In a statement made to Billboard Biz, Target addressed the claims as false. “The claims made about Target’s decision to not carry the Frank Ocean album are absolutely false,” they wrote. “Target supports inclusivity and diversity in every aspect of our business. Our assortment decisions are based on a number of factors, including guest demand.
Target has a longstanding tradition of supporting music and artistry that reflects the diverse landscape of American culture. Our history of partnering with diverse artists includes recent partnerships with a variety of musicians, such as Ricky Martin, B.o.B., and Gloria Estefan.”
Frank’s manager later apologized for contributing to the rumors. “I apologize for my comments about Target,” he tweeted. “They are not carrying Frank’s album because it went digital first. Not for ANY other reason. … My response was simply an emotional knee jerk reaction. … Stop. Breath.”
Welp. Now that most of that has been cleared up, I can go back to jamming to Channel Orange on the Pod. Have any of you bought it? What did you think about it? And be sure to catch the audio of Frank’s interview with BBC Radio 1 after the jump.
