--- title: Frank Ocean Writes Emotional Response to Orlando Shooting description: Frank Ocean penned a heartfelt response to the tragic Orlando shooting on his personal Tumblr canonical: https://time.com/4376375/orlando-shooting-frank-ocean-response-tumblr/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-21T15:06:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:34.023Z og:title: Read Frank Ocean's Emotional Response To the Orlando Shooting og:description: "Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist." og:url: https://time.com/4376375/orlando-shooting-frank-ocean-response-tumblr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39262ace69e0dfa5/698898c30a4a22ecc29ca2a0/frank-ocean-tumblr-orlando-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Day 3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Frank Ocean's Emotional Response To the Orlando Shooting twitter:description: "Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39262ace69e0dfa5/698898c30a4a22ecc29ca2a0/frank-ocean-tumblr-orlando-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Frank Ocean's Emotional Response to the Orlando Shooting  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 21, 2016 3:06 PM UTC  (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)Jason Merritt—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 21, 2016 3:06 PM UTC [Frank Ocean](http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/frank-ocean/) took to his Tumblr on Tuesday to post a heartfelt response to the [Orlando shooting](http://time.com/4366957/orlando-shooting-juan-guerrero-christopher-drew-leinonen/). In the powerful post, the reclusive singer ([who has not released an album since his groundbreaking 2012 _Channel Orange_)](http://time.com/4355521/frank-ocean-new-album-friday-june-3/) eloquently reflects on homophobia, violence, religion, and remembers a transphobic moment from his childhood. Ocean’s touching response addresses not only the [tragedy of Pulse nightclub mass shooting](http://time.com/4366349/orlando-shooting-victims-photos/), but also [North Carolina’s “bathroom bill”](http://time.com/4365202/north-carolina-bathroom-tweaks-unlikely-to-satisfy-critics/) and the state of mental health for members of the LGBT community, noting that, “Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist.” Ocean closes with a hope for a better future. “I daydream on the idea that maybe all this barbarism and all these transgressions against ourselves is an equal and opposite reaction to something better happening in this world, some great swelling wave of openness and wakefulness out here.” Read the post in full on Ocean’s [Tumblr](http://frankocean.tumblr.com/post/146249813326/i-read-in-the-paper-that-my-brothers-are-being) or below. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4376375/orlando-shooting-frank-ocean-response-tumblr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4376375/orlando-shooting-frank-ocean-response-tumblr/"},"headline":"Read Frank Ocean's Emotional Response to the Orlando Shooting","datePublished":"2016-06-21T15:06:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:34.023Z","description":"\"Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist.\"","url":"https://time.com/4376375/orlando-shooting-frank-ocean-response-tumblr/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Frank Ocean"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39262ace69e0dfa5/698898c30a4a22ecc29ca2a0/frank-ocean-tumblr-orlando-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39262ace69e0dfa5/698898c30a4a22ecc29ca2a0/frank-ocean-tumblr-orlando-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Day 3","caption":"2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Day 3","creditText":"Jason Merritt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4376375/orlando-shooting-frank-ocean-response-tumblr/","name":"Read Frank Ocean's Emotional Response to the Orlando Shooting"}}]}] ```