Frank Ocean Sued By Chipotle, Odd Future Member Responds

Popular restaurant chain Chipotle is suing Odd Future crooner, Frank Ocean claiming the entertainer backed out of an ad campaign after he was already paid for the gig. The Mexican eating establishment claims they paid Ocean $212,500 to contribute vocals to an upcoming commercial.

According to the suit, filed Friday (March 7) in Los Angeles Superior Court, Chipotle alleges they made a deal with Ocean through CAA to produce a track called "Pure Imagination" for a marketing campaign titled the Scarecrow. Ocean was told the premise of the ad was to advocate local and sustainably-sourced food, while warning of the dangers of industrial farming. The singer was told the ad was backed by Chipotle and was a promotion for the eatery. After seeing a rough draft of the campaign which was around 80 percent finished, Frank agreed to the terms and was paid $212,500 which was half of the payment. Chipotle claims it was only after the August 7, 2013 deadline, that Ocean informed them he would no longer participate.

A statement from Ocean's camp, which is included in the lawsuit, claims he backed out of the campaign because Chipotle misrepresented their intentions. "When Frank was asked to participate in this project, Chipotle's representatives told him that the thrust of the campaign was to promote responsible farming. There was no Chipotle reference or logo in the initial presentation, and Chipotle told Frank that was an intentional element of the campaign," the letter partially reads. "Frank was also promised that he'd have the right to approve the master and all advertising."

Ocean has yet to officially release a statement about the lawsuit, but possibly referenced the ordeal with a Tumblr post that simply links to the Wikipedia page for "defamation."

[via HollywoodReporter]