Brian McKnight is at it again…speaking out about his estranged relationship with his four biological kids, except this time he’s attempting to do damage control that isn’t going over quite so well with many of his fans.

In case you missed the recent ongoing drama Brian keeps publicly stirring up between himself and at least three of his four estranged children– Niko, Briana, and Brian McKnight Jr.– dude has recently taken virtual jabs at them by referring to them as ‘products of sin‘ on social media, including his cancer-stricken son in this unfortunate mess as well. Fast forward to now, and obviously, Brian’s recent painful statements about his kids earned him tons of backlash. Now that he’s being called out about his insensitive statements — especially toward his son, Niko, who’s currently fighting for his life as he battles cancer — Brian has spoken out yet again in a video message on April 24, 2024.

 

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Niko McKnight has been chronicling his cancer battle on social media ever since 2023. However, his pops, Brian, began his new video message by claiming the “sensitive” matter involving him and Niko should not be for “public consumption”…even though Brian has repeatedly publicly bashed (key word being, ‘publicly’) and/or disowned his estranged kids ever since 2019:

“I wanted to take a few moments to talk about something that I’d already addressed six months ago,” stated Brian McKnight. “But, I hesitate to talk about it now because the subject matter is so sensitive and so serious that I don’t believe it’s for public consumption. But because people keep asking me about it, I feel a need to address to this once again.”

The “Last Cry” crooner then proceeded to address Niko’s cancer battle, while seemingly painting himself as the ‘good guy’ in the scenario…just days after referring Niko and his other siblings as ‘products of sin’ online:

B.M. – “Six months ago, when we found out about this (Niko’s cancer), we called him (Niko McKnight). We talked to him. We talked to his wife. She told us that she was all alone and handling everything all by herself. And it became quickly evident to us that since they didn’t have insurance and they didn’t have access to the proper doctors…naturally, and even though all this nonsense has been going on for years, we jumped into action. We asked for his medical reports. We received those medical reports. We hand-delivered them to the best specialists in the country. Those specialists outlined a plan of action that would give him the best fighting chance. We miraculously found a treatment facility near our home that put him at the top of the list.

And then we put down a deposit to secure that place. We were arranging to fly the two of them to our home privately so that she (Niko’s wife) could be with him and not have to work and really just focus on his treatment.”

Brian also says that Julie McKnight — his ex-wife of 13 years (who reportedly accused Brian of repeated physically abuse toward her during their marriage) and mother of two of his sons, Niko and Brian Jr.– told him to refrain from calling Niko:

B.M. – “And in the midst of that, we received a very hostile phone call from his mother saying, do not contact him. He does not need your help. But I can only imagine that if that help came from me, that it would go against the strong narrative that’s being pushed out there about me.

So what are we doing? We’re adhering to her wishes because that’s what she wanted. And we’re staying out of it. And we’re doing the only thing we can do, which is pray for him, which I hope you do, too.”

Now, typically matters involving parents and their children should be kept private because that is a deeply sensitive topic. But, like many Brian-McKnight-fans, I gotta call a spade a spade here. So here it is…

Few things to point out about Brian’s statements:

1. He failed to mention the multiple times he’d already publicly disowned his kids online and/or in interviews, dating back to 2019; while simultaneously publicly referring to his wife’s kids ‘as his own’ and lovingly embracing them constantly online in what seemed to be further attempts to hurt his kids’ feelings and shame them. Hmmm…I could be wrong, but could that be a major part of the reason why his ex-wife, Julie, supposedly wanted to step up and be ‘Mama Bear’ in order to protect their son, Niko, as he fights for his life? Additional stress on any cancer patient can further worsen their condition.
2. As a father, he should not expect a pat on the back from fans (via his latest video message), for supposedly attempting to help the child he publicly disowned years ago, as that child battles cancer. And he especially should not attempt to use that in his defense, just days after publicly shaming his biological kids online yet again.

Whew…this  entire situation is disheartening to say the least. All I can say is that I sincerely hope the brotha can one day (hopefully sooner, rather than later) “start back at one” with mending his relationships with his biological kids.

And if you missed the recent statements Brian McKnight made about all of his biological kids — presumably before he realized the mounds of backlash he’d face once fans learned that one of his sons is battling cancer — feel free to check that out here.