Brian McKnight allegedly refused to tell his son, Niko, that he loved him before he died from cancer.
Making the claim in a new interview with Marc Lamont Hill, the singer's other son, Brian McKnight Jr., said: "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."
"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?"
Niko, McKnight Jr.’s little brother, passed away in May following a two-year battle with cancer. He was 32 years old.
McKnight has been estranged from his four eldest children for years. In October 2023, the singer legally changed his name after he and his wife, Leilani Malia Mendoza, welcomed their new child, Brian Kainoa Makoa Jr.
According to McKnight, his name is now Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. to ensure he's a senior to his baby, even though he's already a senior to his oldest son, Brian McKnight Jr.
Last April, the singer again made headlines when he called his biological children "products of sin" and insinuated that they were "pure evil."
"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]," McKnight wrote on Instagram.
In more recent days, McKnight Jr. slammed his father for celebrating winning millions in a defamation suit against his ex-wife, Julie, on Niko’s birthday.
"The shit going on with my dad right now, man," McKnight Jr. said on his IG Story. "If y’all aren’t seeing what’s happening. If y’all aren’t seeing the fact that this is just a very hurt, and a very emotionally unavailable and not intelligent person that has still not been able to handle the death of his own mother…to decide to make certain posts on my late brother’s birthday?"
Hill and McKnight also recently had a spat. Earlier this week, McKnight addressed alleged comments from Hill on Anton Daniels’ podcast. "I would destroy that dude," McKnight said. "Not physically. You don’t even know me, but you called me an asshole?"
Hill later responded on The Joe Budden Podcast. "I don’t remember us saying nothing that crazy about him. I don’t remember calling him an asshole, but he is an asshole. Let me be clear: Brian McKnight, you are an asshole."
Hill explained that he’s basing his characterization of McKnight on "having interviewed Brian McKnight lots of times." Hill added: "You were rude and nasty to everybody on my crew and my team."