Brian McKnight Jr. claimed his estranged father, singer Brian McKnight Sr., refused to tell his son Niko that he loved him during the two years Niko had colon cancer before his death in May.
What did McKnight Jr. say about his father and younger brother?
McKnight Jr. and his mother, Julie McKnight, shared the details in an exclusive Patreon interview with Marc Lamont Hill on Wednesday. The pair reflected on Niko’s strained relationship with the “Back at One” singer, saying that the only thing Niko wanted was for McKnight Sr. to tell him “I love you” while Niko was navigating the hardest moment of his life.
“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,” McKnight Jr. said during the interview.
He continued, “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,” he added. “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 Sr.’s defamation suit against his ex-wife and the voicemail she left him
The Patreon interview then transitioned to Julie discussing the voicemail included in a controversial post McKnight Sr. shared on his Instagram account in October. In the video, the 56-year-old appeared overjoyed after reportedly winning an $8.8 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, which also fell on Oct. 16, their late son Niko’s birthday. The voicemail featured Julie, whom McKnight Sr. called a “liar,” telling him and his new wife, Leilani Malia Mendoza, not to contact Niko again, Bossip reported.
What many social media users found odd about the video was that McKnight Sr. was seen excited, running and clicking his heels together as the voicemail played until the end. During the interview with Hill, Julie shared more details about the moment she left the voicemail for the singer.
“Yes, people heard the voicemail, but they have no idea that as a mom standing in the room with my son on speaker with his wife and hearing how belittling his father talked to him,” she said. “The first comment out of his mouth was, ‘I don’t appreciate the way you’re treating my new family.’ Who gives a damn, man?”
McKnight Sr. spoke out about Niko’s cancer battle
The recent Patreon interview follows McKnight Sr.’s Nov. 19 sit-down with Anton Daniels, during which he opened up about his former relationship with Julie and their two children, McKnight Jr. and Niko. He claimed that Julie had turned their sons against him, despite them living lavishly, and that “things “got out of control.” However, McKnight Jr. denied his father’s claims, recounting a different experience, per Bossip.
During the interview with Daniels, McKnight Sr. reiterated points from his initial Instagram post in June, calling out his brother, Claude McKnight, for posting about Niko’s passing on TikTok. In his post, the 16-time Grammy-nominated singer said how he and his new family held a private memorial in Maui for Niko. He also said that he had all the resources in place for Niko to receive treatment but that Julie and Niko declined. He then blamed Julie for “not allowing him to accept that help.”
“We talked to him … earlier that year, that May. … Now we come to find out three days after, that’s when he got diagnosed. They waited — because he didn’t have insurance — they waited four months to let us know,” McKnight Sr. said.
“According to all statistics, 91% of colon cancer diagnoses that are caught early are curable. From the time you got diagnosed to the time we found out, because they didn’t tell us, I had to find out from somebody else. Then I heard from them. So once we found out, we sprung into action. ‘What can we do? Can we get the scans? Can we do this? Can we do that?’ Anton, by this time, it was Stage 4,” he added.
McKnight Sr. and Hill’s recent spat, explained
While both father and son have given their respective interviews about their family dynamics, Hill and McKnight Sr. have had back-and-forth moments recently, which began when Hill was on The Joe Budden Podcast and called the musician an “a**hole.”
McKnight Sr. then said he would “destroy” the journalist for calling him that. In a Nov. 30 episode of the podcast, Hill explained why he called McKnight an “a**hole.”
“Brian McKnight, you are an a**hole. I’m basing that on having interviewed Brian McKnight lots of times,” Hill said, claiming that the singer mistreated members of Hill’s team during those interactions.