Frank Ocean fan ordered to destroy controversial Coachella footage
A fan of Frank Ocean has been ordered to remove footage of the musician's controversial Coachella performance.
The Godspeed singer came under fire after festivalgoers were disappointed by his set, with viral footage of the artist lip-syncing to some of his most iconic tracks.
Now, parent company AEG are demanding that the filmmaker ‘removes and destroys' the footage of the recent performance.
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Prior to the festival, Frank Ocean had claimed that he’d suffered a ‘serious ankle injury’, which happened during rehearsals for the highly anticipated Coachella show.
Although the Thinkin Bout You musician has not confirmed how it happened, the 35-year-old was allegedly injured as he rode a bike around the Empire Polo Club grounds.
It led to several last-minute changes to the performance, including the stage being redesigned so the star could perform.
However, festivalgoers were disappointed by the Grammy-award winner’s gig, which started late and seemed to show him lip-syncing throughout.
Despite the injury, there’s been little sympathy for the singer, as his fans have waited over six years to see him live, and the footage quickly went viral on social media.
US filmmaker, Brian Kinnes, an editor for Simone Films, even compiled clips of the sell-out festival to show the performance – after YouTube decided not to live stream it.
Compiling over 100 videos, the fan then uploaded the set to social media for others to watch.
However, Kinnes has now been ordered to remove the video, after he received a cease and desist order from AEG – the same day he uploaded the video.
In a letter from the company, obtained by Variety magazine, it told Kinnes to ‘remove and destroy all audio and video content […] of musical performances from the festival’.
It went on to add that ‘anything short of full compliance with this demand will lead to the initiation of immediate formal legal action.’
However, the fan has hit back telling Variety that he is not worried by legal action over the footage – given that Ocean later pulled out of the festival’s second weekend.
He told the publication: “I’m not concerned with any legal repercussions because I do not plan on making a single penny from it,” Kinnes told Variety in an interview prior to receiving the cease and desist.
“I will continue to upload it in places that [Ocean’s] legal team will not be able to find. I don’t know if I should tell that to a reporter… but it deserves to exist online.”
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Music, US News, Coachella
Katherine Sidnell