Frank Ocean Album Won’t Be Sold At Target, But Not For The Reason You Think

Frank Ocean’s new album Channel Orange has a lot of buzz around it. The album, which was released exclusively on iTunes earlier this week, could land in the top of Billboard charts. But Target isn’t too anxious to put the new album on their store shelves.

Ocean recently admitted that he was bisexual earlier this month and many people speculated that Target’s decision not to carry the album was based on Ocean’s sexual orientation.

Ocean’s manager Christian Clancy tweeted:

“Target has refused to carry Frank’s album because of iTunes exclusive. Interesting since they also donate to non-equal rights organizations.”

But Target insists that Ocean’s sexual orientation had nothing to do with their decision not to carry his album. Target said that it would have carried the album if Ocean did not release it digitally before giving it to stores.

Target said in a statement:

“The claims made about Target’s decision to not carry the Frank Ocean album are absolutely false. Target supports inclusivity and diversity in every aspect of our business. Our assortment decisions are based on a number of factors, including guest demand. At Target, we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, so our selection of new releases is dedicated to physical CDs rather than titles that are released digitally in advance of the street date.

“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.”

Ocean’s manager later deleted his tweet and issued an apology.

Clancy said:

“I apologize for my comments about Target. 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. Do the best you can. Be honest. Keep it moving.”

Frank Ocean wasn’t discriminated against by Target, but that doesn’t mean that the singer hasn’t received his share of bigoted hatred. The singer has received several hateful comments on Twitter. A webpage has even been set up, Hate Tweets To Frank Ocean, which displays all of the terrible things said to the singer due to his sexuality.

Still, Ocean will probably get the last laugh. MTV reports that Ocean’s new album is expected to sell twice as many albums as expected and may possible top the Billboard charts at the end of the week.

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