R&B singer Brian McKnight scored a string of hits and a slew of Grammy nominations in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But these days, the troubled star is known more for the messy details of his personal life.
And the latest revelation about McKnight’s treatment of his late son might cost him his few remaining fans.
Brian McKnight Jr. makes shocking revelation about his brother’s final days
Back in May, Brian’s son Niko passed away at the age of 32 following a prolonged battle with cancer.
During a recent appearance on Lamont Hill’s podcast, the singer’s other estranged son, Brian McKnight Jr., revealed that his father refused to say “I love you” as Niko lay on his deathbed.
“One of the darkest and coldest and most disheartening memories of my life is the day my brother [Niko] calls me sobbing — with all he’s going through — looking death in the eye, to tell me I’m right about telling him not to call my father because I knew what was going to happen,” Brian Jr., adding:
“Because I knew where my dad was. I told [Niko], ‘Dad is gone.’ All my brother wanted, needed, asked for was my father to tell him he loves him.
“My father responds to my brother, ‘I can’t arbitrarily say that I love you.’ But this is the man that wanted to help him?” McKnight elaborated, according to Page Six.
McKnight revealed feud with sons in 2023
In October of 2023, the elder McKnight changed his name so that he could become the “Senior” to his then-newborn son, Brian Kainoa Makoa Jr.
When fans pointed out that he already had a son named Brian McKnight Jr., the singer replied that he disavows his two eldest sons, as they are “products of sin.”
“In order to live a life that you love, you have to get rid of the evil and the negativity — even if that evil and negativity is related [to you],” he said during a Q&A session on Instagram at the time (via Page Six).
One fan noted that abandoning one’s children goes “against God,” which prompted McKnight to go on a rant.
“1. God wasn’t talking about children that are the product of sin, which these are 2. I didn’t raise them their mothers did 3. Know the whole story before quoting the Bible 4. Take your inaccurate negativity off my page and try being happy,” he wrote.
Needless to say, McKnight won’t be winning any Father of the Year awards anytime soon.
But even knowing how tense the situation was with his sons, the revelation about Niko is still shocking.